Fred Savage’s on-set behavior has come under scrutiny after he was fired as executive producer and director of The Wonder Years reboot earlier this month amid accusations of misconduct.
Savage, 45, who has worked extensively as a director in addition to his acting efforts, is ‘quick to anger’ and ‘can have a temper and occasional outbursts’ while in charge of productions, sources told People on Tuesday.
An insider told the outlet that Savage is partial to overshooting scenes, which puts crews under more pressure, leads to longer days and gives him ‘more opportunities to snap at people.’
The latest: Fred Savage’s on-set behavior has come under scrutiny after he was fired as executive producer and director of The Wonder Years reboot earlier this month amid accusations of misconduct. Savage, 45, was snapped in 2019 in NYC
Said the insider: ‘He works his crews pretty hard by always doing more takes than necessary. Some directors just overshoot. Sometimes they feel like they didn’t get the performance or want to try another angle or things like that.’
Also commenting on the situation swirling around Savage was Anahita Seda, a lawyer who represented costumer Youngjoo Hwang in a 2018 assault and harassment suit against Savage over his behavior on the set of The Grinder.
‘This was a long time coming and I am not the least bit surprised,’ Seda told Page Six on Monday. ‘When my client came to me in 2018 with her allegations against Mr. Savage, we discovered that there was at least one lawsuit that had been filed against him in the past and that Mr. Savage had allegedly engaged in this type of behavior not just towards my client but other women as well.
‘It is unfortunate that it took my client speaking out and now reportedly these others before action was finally taken.’
Savage, who has worked extensively as a director in addition to his acting efforts, is ‘quick to anger’ and ‘can have a temper and occasional outbursts’ while in charge of productions, sources told People on Tuesday. He was pictured in 2019 in NYC
Anahita Seda (R), a lawyer who represented costumer Youngjoo Hwang (L) in a 2018 assault and harassment suit against Savage over his behavior on the set of The Grinder, said of Savage’s firing, ‘This was a long time coming and I am not the least bit surprised’
Hwang said in legal docs that Savage had a ‘volatile and aggressive temper as it related to the female crew’ and had ‘violently struck’ her on three occasions.
In court docs reviewed by the outlet, Hwang said that ‘Savage was known to intimidate, bully and torment female crew members while they were doing their job duties by yelling things like “I’m not a dog, quit f***ing following me,” “Don’t ever even f***ing look at me anymore,” and “Get the f*** away from me.”‘
Savage, who subsequently settled the suit, had called the accusations ‘completely without merit and absolutely untrue,’ and was cleared by a probe at the time by 20th Century Television.
A source close to Savage told People that the actor-director ‘hasn’t seemed stressed’ since his ouster from The Wonder Years reboot, as he has been ‘pretty relaxed’ and is ‘enjoying some time off’ with his wife Jennifer Lynn at their home in Los Angeles.
Savage shot to fame as a child star in films such as The Princess Bride and The Wizard, and the first incarnation of The Wonder Years TV show, in which he portrayed main character Kevin Arnold from 1988 to 1993.
Savage branched out in his Hollywood endeavors more than 20 years ago, as he has maintained a career in front of and behind the camera.
In recent years he has acted on shows such as Friends from College, The Grinder and The Conners, in addition to voice roles on animated series such as Family Guy, American Dad! and Generator Rex.
As a director, he has worked extensively on shows such as The Conners, Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls, Black-ish and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He had directed eight episodes of The Wonder Years reboot prior to his ouster on May 6.
Savage shot to fame as a child star in the first incarnation of The Wonder Years TV show, in which he portrayed main character Kevin Arnold from 1988 to 1993
Savage was seen directing The Wonder Years reboot last year alongside actor Elisha Williams
Savage’s firing from the series was confirmed by a 20th Television spokesperson in a statement earlier this month, detailing the end result of a probe against the actor-director.
‘Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of The Wonder Years.’
Seda told Page Six that she thought that ‘the network must have found some corroboration and had no choice but to part ways with him,’ as ‘they can be held civilly liable in court’ if found negligent of dealing with misconduct complaints.
‘Fox has not corroborated the claims on record nor have they released their findings of the investigation; we can only surmise some wrongdoing was found,’ Seda said.
Savage’s conduct on the original incarnation of The Wonder Years was also the center of controversy.
Alley Mills, 71, who played his mother Norma Arnold on the show, told Yahoo! in 2018 that the show’s conclusion in 1993 was linked to a ‘ridiculous’ sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Savage and costar Jason Hervey, 50.
Mills called Savage the ‘least offensive, most wonderful, sweet human being that ever walked the face of the earth.’
According to a 1993 report from the Los Angeles Times, a costume designer named Monique Long sued Savage and Hervey over allegations of wrongful firing due to misconduct from both actors. The lawsuit was subsequently settled and dropped.