Henry Winkler has opened up about the decades-old fallout with Tom Hanks that began after Winkler was abruptly removed as director of the 1989 comedy Turner & Hooch.
Winkler, now 80, had been hired by Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg to direct the film, which starred Hanks as a police officer partnered with a troublesome dog. But just 13 days into production, Winkler was suddenly out.
Recalling the experience on the YouTube show In Depth With Graham Bensinger, Winkler said he approached the job with enthusiasm but soon realized he may have been overstepping.
“I now meet the puppies, and I meet with Tom,” he said.
“I, at that time being insecure, I talked too much, and I gave them direction,” Winkler added. “I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again; and apparently that pissed them off.”
Winkler said he was then summoned to Katzenberg’s office: “I then go to the set. I get my things. I drive home. I’m fired as a director.”
Winkler admitted he didn’t “handle it well” and was “devastated” by the dismissal.
Looking back, he now questions whether he was the right person to direct the broad comedy in the first place, saying he wasn’t “suited” to directing the comedy.
The experience nevertheless left a lasting mark on his relationship with Hanks.
Before Hanks became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, he appeared as a guest on Happy Days in 1982, the sitcom that made Winkler famous as Arthur “the Fonz” Fonzarelli.
Years later, however, Winkler said Hanks was notably absent when a Happy Days retrospective was being assembled. The production wanted to include a short clip of Hanks from his appearance, but Winkler said they “did not get permission for that.”
Back in 2020, Winkler denied ever having had a rift with Hanks.
“I don’t have a feud with Tom Hanks,” he told Vanity Fair at the time. “What everybody says and what is true are two different things.”
But Winkler had fuelled speculation years earlier with a pointed remark about the Turner & Hooch set.
“I got along better with Hooch [the dog] than I did with Turner [Hanks],” he told People in 1993.
Ron Howard, who is close to both actors, later acknowledged that the two had struggled to work together. Speaking in 2020, Howard described the situation as “disappointing” and said both men had spoken to him about what happened.
“I’m friends with them both and both men felt compelled to come to talk to me about it,” Howard said. “It was just one of those unfortunate things where they really had a working style that did not fit.”
“I know it was painful for both of them and I was able to lend an ear, if not offer any solutions,” he said.
Despite the years that have passed, Winkler suggested the relationship may not be beyond repair. Asked whether he and Hanks could ever reconcile, he replied simply:
“Sure.”
