Friday, July 20, 2018

'Silicon Valley' Source Contradicts Alice Wetterlund's Claims -- Sort Of


Alice Wetterlund, who apparently was on seasons 2 and 3 of HBO's "Silicon Valley" as programmer Carla Walton, has gone public with her claims that everyone on set in a position of power -- including male cast members -- enabled T.J. Miller to behave really badly. For those (like me) who don't know anything about the show, Dlisted writes that Miller was a "huge mess," showing up drunk or on drugs, before he was politely written of the show. 


If you are following the drama, I thought you might want to know that an inside source tells me things with Miller were indeed horrible, but the situation wasn't exactly how Wetterlund describes it:
Contrary to Alice Wetterlund’s complaints, the main cast of "Silicon Valley" were very unhappy with T.J. Miller and continually complained to HBO, which led to his ultimate departure. The main cast said he was rude and awful and hard to work with. Because of this, HBO wanted to cut down T.J.'s’s role. He said no and walked. I don't doubt that her claims are real. I think he was an asshole to her. And the cast probably let it happen. But it's not true that they weren't doing anything about it. The cast got T.J. fired
Splitting hairs to save face or important distinction? You can decide for yourself.

2 comments:

northalabama said...

t.j. miller's first appearance a few minutes into episode one caused me to immediately stop watching the show, how anyone could not see his repulsive personality is beyond me.

barryearle said...

I just finished watching the finale of Season 5. I think it's a great show--clever and well acted with interesting comments on Silicon Valley and workplaces beyond. Although I tend to dislike the closing credit music which is usually some form of rap.

However, I never liked the character played by T.J. Miller which, from what I read, was just his real persona. And I'm sure he was probably a terror to work with.

But the complaints that nothing was done about his behavior brings to mind other workplaces where those in management (mostly male) are either behaving inappropriately or looking the other way. So what was happening on the Silicon Valley set was not unusual. In Hollywood, it's rare for a studio to dismiss someone they think they need because of complaints. As a producer once told me, she could work with a "high maintenance" actor if he/she delivered. TJ was that character and it was obviously thought he was delivering what the script called for...until he didn't.

So, I must say Season 5 was much more pleasant to watch without his grating character. I look forward to Season 6 which is more than I can say for Season 3 of Westworld. But that's another posting.