Tulsa King is one of creator Taylor Sheridan‘s biggest shows, but much like his other, even-more-popular series, there are reports of behind the scenes drama. According to Deadline, the casting director for the Paramount Plus series left the project after star Sylvester Stallone and an unnamed director made disparaging remarks about background actors.
“Rose Locke Casting of Atlanta was hired to find actors ages 18 and over for the second season of the Taylor Sheridan series. But apparently the working conditions on Tulsa King soon became fodder on a private Facebook page for Atlanta-based background actors,” Deadline reports. Stallone and the director are accused of calling extras “ugly,” “tub of lard,” and a “fat guy with cane.”
On Monday, Star Trek: Prodigy writer Julie Benson posted two screenshots on Twitter and wrote, “Got this disturbing news from my Atlanta friend who’s background on Tulsa King this wk. Casting agent quit because she was so disgusted. My friend is feeling anxious about working now. @TheSlyStallone what do you have to say for yourself, sir? Beyond disappointed, I’m livid.” One of the images shows what appears to be an email from Locke, who messaged, “At the end of the day I resigned because it was a clear toxic environment that I was not comfortable putting myself or background artists in.”
Tulsa King executive producer Craig Zisk denied the claims to TMZ.
Zisk says the extras were supposed to be in a hip, young bar, and the plan was to get actors in the 25 to 35-year-old range, but the actors who were cast were considerably older. Zisk, who ended up using the actors for the scene, said, “They were “polite and did their jobs.” According to Zisk, he then told Rose Locke she needed to submit photos — headshots — of the extras so they would vibe with the premise of the film, but he says she responded, “I don’t work that way.” He shot back, “That’s the way I work and everyone I know works that way in extras casting.” Zisk says Locke responded, “Ok,” but then quit an hour later.
Stallone has not responded to the allegations, but we’ll update if so.
