Henry Winkler Opens Up About Tom Hanks Feud

Henry Winkler has addressed his longstanding professional conflict with Tom Hanks, revealing new details about the circumstances that led to a rift between the two acclaimed actors that has persisted for more than three decades.

During a recent appearance on the talk show In Depth with Graham Bensinger, the 80-year-old Happy Days icon recounted his abrupt dismissal as director of the 1989 film Turner & Hooch, which starred Hanks, 70, as a detective paired with a slobbering mastiff.

Winkler acknowledged that he accepted the directing position despite reservations about whether the project suited his strengths. His approach on set, he now recognizes, may have contributed to the tension that ultimately cost him the job.

"I guess, being insecure at that time, I talked too much," Winkler told Us Weekly. "I gave them direction … which I thought was my job. I wanted to do [a scene] over again, and apparently that pissed them off."

The actor described being summoned to Walt Disney Studios chair Jeffrey Katzenberg's office after 13 days of production, where he received criticism before being terminated from the project. Winkler worked alongside Hanks and costar Mare Winningham during those two weeks of filming.

"I then go to the set, I drive home, [and] I'm fired as a director," Winkler told Us Weekly, adding that the experience left him "devastated" and that he struggled to process the dismissal constructively at the time.

When host Graham Bensinger pressed Winkler about the origins of any animosity between himself and the Castaway star, the actor admitted uncertainty. He noted that Hanks had previously made a guest appearance on Happy Days, suggesting their professional relationship predated the troubled Turner & Hooch production.

"I'm still working on my perspective," Winkler told Us Weekly when asked to reflect on what went wrong between the two actors.

Despite the years of distance, Winkler expressed optimism about the possibility of reconciliation. When Bensinger asked whether the relationship could ever be repaired, Winkler responded with a simple "Sure," according to Us Weekly.

This interview was not the first time Winkler has publicly discussed the Turner & Hooch experience. During a May 2024 appearance on the How to Fail podcast, he provided additional context about the production, revealing that he had invested 11 weeks of preparation into the buddy cop comedy before filming began.

In that earlier interview, Winkler offered a theory about what may have sparked the initial friction. He recalled an incident in Carmel, California, where the production team was scouting locations and a fan recognized him for his iconic role as The Fonz rather than identifying Hanks.

According to Winkler, the director of photography later told him that the Carmel encounter foreshadowed his eventual firing. The cinematographer allegedly said he knew Winkler would be dismissed from that moment forward.

Hanks has never publicly addressed the conflict or commented on his working relationship with Winkler during the Turner & Hooch production. The Oscar-winning actor has maintained silence on the matter throughout the decades since the film's release.

Turner & Hooch went on to be completed under different direction and became a commercial success, though the behind-the-scenes drama remained largely unknown to audiences until Winkler began discussing it in recent years.