Henry Winkler has reignited a decade-long dispute involving Tom Hanks. The 80-year-old reflected on the incident in which he got fired from Hanks’ 1989 film, Turner & Hooch.
Winkler recently appeared on In Depth With Graham Bensinger. The American director stated that he did not have a good feeling about being appointed as a director for the project by a Paramount executive.
He said, “I went completely against my tummy, and it hit me in the face with a 2×4. I now meet the puppies, and I meet with Tom [Hanks]… and I, at that time being insecure, I talked too much, and I gave them direction. I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again, and apparently that pi**ed them off.”
The Happy Days star also reflected on how utterly distraught he was after learning that he had been fired as the director of Turner & Hooch. Putting his emotions into words, Winkler said, “And in 13 days of filming, I’m called into [studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg’s] office, and he said, ‘It’s not in the dailies.’ I then go to the set. I get my things. I drive home. I’m fired as a director… I don’t handle it well. I’m devastated.”
Henry Winkler says he’s still ‘working on’ his perspective of Tom Hanks
Henry Winkler shared how he is still trying to understand or figure out how he feels about his relationship with Tom Hanks. He stated, “I am still working on my perspective. I think his wife, Rita [Wilson], was also a guest on Happy Days in the beginning.”
Winkler further suggested that he is still open to the possibility of a reconciliation. Addressing whether he believes that his relationship with Hanks could eventually get better, he replied with a “Sure.”
Per Vanity Fair, the filmmaker told TMZ, “I don’t have a feud with Tom Hanks. What everybody says and what is true are two different things.”
Originally reported on ComingSoon.
