Henry Winkler has revisited one of the more unusual footnotes of his career: the 13 days he spent directing Turner & Hooch before being let go from the 1989 Tom Hanks comedy. In a new interview on In Depth With Graham Bensinger, Winkler walked through exactly how the brief directing stint fell apart — and why he still isn’t entirely at peace with how it happened.
How Henry Winkler Ended Up Directing Turner & Hooch
By his own account, Winkler’s first instinct told him he wasn’t suited to direct the film at all. He only took the job after encouragement from Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, who pushed him toward the chair despite Winkler’s reservations. Those initial doubts turned out to be well-founded: Winkler has said he was insecure on set, talked too much, and over-directed scenes, wanting takes redone in ways that apparently frustrated the production. “I did what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again, and apparently that pissed them off,” Winkler explained. He was removed from the film not even two weeks into shooting.
The Carmel Story
One moment from the shoot has stuck with Winkler for decades. While location scouting in Carmel, California, a fan recognized him instantly — but not his star, Tom Hanks. “Henry, Fonz! Oh, my god!” the fan reportedly said, star-struck by Winkler’s Happy Days fame while walking right past Hanks. A director of photography on the film later told Winkler he’d seen the writing on the wall from that exact moment, sensing that dynamic wasn’t going to sit well with everyone involved in a production built around Hanks as the lead.
A Rift That’s Lingered for Decades
Winkler has been candid that his relationship with Hanks never fully recovered from the experience, describing an ongoing tension between them that has persisted for years since. In this latest interview, he said he’s “still working on my perspective” on what happened — a notably reflective, unresolved way to describe a professional falling-out that’s now well over three decades old. It’s a rare instance of a Hollywood figure publicly admitting a rift hasn’t been fully patched up, rather than offering the usual tidy “we’re all good now” narrative.
Despite the friction, Winkler has held onto a small piece of the experience: a signed model plane that Hanks built for him while they were still working together on the film, before the firing. Winkler still owns it today, a detail that suggests whatever went wrong on set didn’t erase the parts of the collaboration that worked.
What Happened to Turner & Hooch After the Firing
Despite its chaotic early days, Turner & Hooch went on to become a modest box office success and a lasting part of Tom Hanks’ filmography, eventually spawning a Disney+ sequel series decades later. Roger Spottiswoode ultimately completed directing duties after Winkler’s exit, and the finished film has held up as a comfort-watch buddy comedy for generations of fans, largely disconnected in the public’s memory from the behind-the-scenes turbulence that shaped its first two weeks of production.
That disconnect is part of what makes Winkler’s retelling so notable now — most audiences have no idea the film had this kind of rocky start, since the finished product gives no hint of a mid-shoot directorial change. It’s the same pattern seen with plenty of other productions where veteran actors resurface decades later to reveal how different the on-set reality was from what audiences eventually saw, whether that’s Rick Moranis returning to comedy after decades away or The Nutty Professor’s 30th-anniversary retrospective reminding fans how much has changed since a beloved comedy first hit theaters.
Why This Story Still Resonates
Winkler has built a notable second act as a beloved character actor and podcast-circuit interviewee, largely thanks to his Emmy-winning run on Barry and his warm, self-deprecating presence in interviews. Stories like this one land differently coming from him now than they might from a bitter has-been — Winkler tells it with humor and self-awareness about his own mistakes rather than casting himself as a victim, which is likely why the story keeps resurfacing in new interviews years after the fact.
It also offers a rare, humanizing counterpoint to how thoroughly beloved Tom Hanks is in the popular imagination. Hollywood friendships and professional relationships don’t always resolve neatly, even between two performers as widely respected as Winkler and Hanks, and Winkler’s willingness to say so publicly — repeatedly, across multiple interviews — is part of what keeps this decades-old story circulating.
FAQ
Why was Henry Winkler fired from Turner & Hooch?
Winkler has said he was insecure as a first-time director, gave too much direction, and asked for scenes to be reshot in ways that frustrated the production. He was removed less than two weeks into filming.
Are Henry Winkler and Tom Hanks still on bad terms?
Winkler describes an ongoing tension rather than an outright feud, saying in his most recent comments that he’s “still working on my perspective” on the experience decades later.
Did Henry Winkler direct any other films?
Turner & Hooch remains a rare, cut-short directing credit in a career that has otherwise focused on acting, including recent, widely praised work on HBO’s Barry.
More than 35 years later, Winkler’s willingness to keep revisiting those 13 days — with humor rather than bitterness — says as much about his own growth as it does about the film itself.
