Anyone else know the story behind Max Wright hating his time on ALF?
I was reading about behind-the-scenes sitcom drama recently and realised just how miserable Max Wright (Willie Tanner) was during the filming of ALF.
Apparently, filming a single 30-minute episode took anywhere from 12 to 25 hours because the entire set had to be built on raised platforms with trapdoors for the puppeteers. Since he was a classically trained theatre actor, he reportedly hated playing second fiddle to a puppet that received all the best lines while everyone else waited around endlessly.
He was essentially trapped in a "golden handcuffs" situation; the show was a huge success, and the paycheck was far too big to walk away from, so he couldn't really quit.
The wildest rumor I came across (I think Artie Lange talked about it on a podcast) was that Wright eventually snapped during a rough shoot and actually physically attacked the ALF puppet, screaming about how they were all just puppets on sticks. There's no footage of it, but a few people who worked on the set have mentioned how bad the tension got.
Apparently when the final scene wrapped in 1990, he didn't even go to the wrap party or say goodbye. He just packed his bags, got in his car, and left.
