Here’s something that no one ever talks about: Tim Allen did hard time. No, really. Back in the late 70s, he was involved in some kind of drug dealing ring in Detroit, and was sentenced to 5-7 years in prison. This is well before his career began, and well well before he was America’s favorite dad on Home Improvement.
Allen never seems to mention this part of his dark past, but I guess he’s ready to bring it up again, now that he’s making the comedy Crazy on the Outside. The movie, starring and directed by Allen, is about a man who is released from jail only to find the world on the outside even harder to navigate. Now The Hollywood Reporter writes that three more actors will be joining Allen’s blast from the past.
Jeanne Tripplehorn will play Allen’s parole officer, a single mom whom Allen tries to convince to date him (hey, it worked in Raising Arizona!) He’s also dealing with his meanie of a sister (Galaxy Quest co-star Sigourney Weaver) and her even-meaner husband (J.K. Simmons, a.k.a. Juno’s awesome dad). Kelsey Grammer, Ray Liotta and Julie Bowen are also part of the cast.
I had kind of forgotten that Tim Allen existed, and I wonder if this will be much more than the middlebrow comedy he’s known for. I guess it all depends on whether or not he’s comfortable owning up to his criminal past, or whether he’ll try to play it off as being an upstanding citizen. He’d just better not drag J.K. Simmons down with him; that man has earned a lifetime of good will from me, and I don’t want to see it squandered.
