Tim Allen Reveals Surprising Secret About Jonathan Taylor Thomas [Exclusive Interview]
'90s teen superstar JTT reunites with his "Home Improvement" dad on the season finale of ABC's "Last Man Standing."
Yahoo TV
March 23, 2013
Yes, Jonathan Taylor Thomas is reuniting onscreen with his TV dad, Tim Allen, for the first time since 1998, but what does the '90s teen dream really want to do?
Direct.
Allen, who will reunite with his "Home Improvement" son on the March 22 season finale of Allen's current ABC hit, "Last Man Standing," says JTT (as he was known to the millions of girls who had posters of him hanging above their beds in the 1990s) was asked to make the guest appearance on camera after spending the last year hanging out on the "Standing" set.
"He's been around. He's been shadowing John Pasquin, our director, because they've known each other for years," Allen says of Thomas and Pasquin, who was also a director on "Home Improvement." "[Thomas] is interested in directing. He's always been wonderful [as an actor], then he went to college and he found other interests. He really was dedicated to his studies, and then kind of got away from TV. But he graduated and he came back, and loves directing, loves working with actors. So he's been shadowing John, some of last year and most of this year. He's just been on the set all the time.
"But he's so shy. It's funny to see him so shy, so nervous," Allen continues about the actor who played his middle son, Randy, on "Home Improvement." "He worried whether he still had it, and he didn't want to do this because he's had other stuff in mind. But they asked him, and he agreed to it. I was shocked, because as I said, he's just shy."
Without spoiling too much about the guest spot, Thomas plays a character who bonds with Allen's Mike Baxter. The two actors make several nods to their old series, and the storyline for Thomas's character leaves the door open for return appearances, as his Jon Baker was conceived as the third part of a potential love triangle for Baxter's daughter Kristin and her boyfriend, Ryan.
"The character expanded more and more as he got on set," Allen says. "He got into it, but again, this is a kid that's really intelligent. He likes directing, he loves this business, but he's not sure that this is what he wants to do. We certainly would like him to come back [on camera], because he does a great job. He's fighting it, but everybody loved him. He's a regular guy, and remember all the girls, how they loved him? A couple of them [from the show] said they had posters of him on the wall of their bedrooms. It was so funny, because they'd go, 'Is he here?' I go, 'Yeah, he's standing right behind you.'
"It was too fricking much," Allen says. "I'm an emotional guy sometimes. I just adore Jonathan. I adore all those boys [from 'Home Improvement']. I see Zachery [Ty Bryan] a lot, I still see Debbe Dunning, and I miss Earl [Hindman], who passed away. Taran [Noah Smith] I don't see that much. I see Richard Karn a lot. I resist any kind of description, because it sounds cheesy, but it was adorable watching [Thomas] there. It was so much fun having him on the set, but he's there a lot, anyway. Of course, I tell him he's probably just there for the craft services. I tell him he probably stops by, yeah, for shadowing, but then he just gets a turkey sandwich and goes home."
(ABC/Craig Sjodin) (Craig Sjodin/ABC)
