Henry Winkler has opened up about the decades-long tension between him and Tom Hanks.
The 80-year-old Happy Days star appeared on In depth with Graham Bensinger on Wednesday, and reflected on his resignation as director of the 1989 film Turner & Hooch, starring the 70-year-old Hanks.
Winkler said he felt he was not “suited” to direct the film, but was personally hired for the job by a Paramount executive.
“I went full gut and he hit me in the face with a 2×4,” he recalled before detailing what he believes led to his firing.
‘I meet Tom and we audition women together, and he settles on Mare Winningham… and I think because I was insecure at the time, I talked too much and gave them directions, which I thought was my job, and what I wanted to do [the scene] and that apparently pissed them off,” the star shared about the catalyst for his tension with Hanks.
The actor said he was fired soon after, revealing, “And after thirteen days of filming, I get drafted [studio executive] Jeff Katzenberg’s office and he said, “It’s not in the papers.” Then I go to the set. I’m getting my stuff. I’m driving home. I have been dismissed as director.’
Henry Winkler, 80, opened up about the decades-long tension between him and Tom Hanks, 70, during an appearance on In Depth With Graham Bensinger on Wednesday
The Happy Days star reflected on her firing as director of the 1989 film Turner & Hooch, starring Hanks; pictured in May
Winkler said he had not properly dealt with the blow to his career and was “devastated.”
He was subsequently replaced by British-Canadian director Roger Spottiswoode.
Winkler played Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in Happy Days, which followed Midwestern friends in the 1950s and 1960s, from 1974 to 1984.
Hanks got his big break on the show as a guest star in 1982, with his character getting involved in a bar fight in the episode.
Winkler told Bensinger in Wednesday’s interview, “We did a Happy Days retrospective and we wanted 60 seconds of Tom Hanks in his episode, but we didn’t get permission for that.”
When asked what his “perspective” is now on the relationship with Hanks, Winkler replied coyly: “I’m still working on my perspective.”
And wondering if he thinks the relationship will ever repair itself, he said bluntly: “Of course.”
Winkler confirmed that he still has a signed model airplane that Hanks built for him while he worked at Turner & Hooch, prior to his firing.
“It was a model airplane… While we were having meetings, he built a plastic Piper Cub or something like that,” he said.
Hanks got his big break on Winkler’s show Happy Days when he appeared as a guest star in 1982
Winkler claimed he was fired as director of Turner & Hooch after asking Hanks to redo a scene. When asked what his “perspective” on the relationship with Hanks is now, Winkler replied: “I’m still working on my perspective.”
It was rumored, but never confirmed, that Hanks and Winkler often argued on the set of the buddy cop movie; Hanks depicted as Turner in the 1989 film
Turner & Hooch tells the story of Detective Scott Turner (Hanks) who, after inheriting his friend’s dog when he was mysteriously murdered, teams up with his new canine friend to find the killer.
It was rumored, but never confirmed, that Hanks and Winkler often argued on the set of the buddy cop movie.
During a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Winkler avoided answering a fan who asked if he had ever seen the film.
In 1993 Winkler related People“I got along better with Hooch than Turner,” referring to Hanks’ character.
He then denied in 2020 that he had any bad blood with the Forrest Gump star TMZ“I have no quarrel with Tom Hanks. What everyone says and what is true are two different things.’
