Henry Winkler said the Henry Winkler Tom Hanks feud still sits unfinished, even as he insists he is working through it. On Sept. 9, he revisited the fallout tied to Turner & Hooch and the 13 days he spent directing before being fired.
Winkler said he was hired by Jeffrey Katzenberg to direct Turner & Hooch, then got to set and gave acting notes to Tom Hanks and Mare Winningham during early filming. He said, “I guess at that time, being insecure, I talked too much,” and added, “And I gave them direction - what I thought was my job - and I wanted to do it over again. And apparently, that pissed them off.”
Turner & Hooch in July 1989
July 1989 is where the business story starts. Touchstone Pictures released Turner & Hooch after Roger Spottiswoode directed it, with Hanks playing a detective forced to partner with a slobbering dog. Winkler said he had misgivings about the project from the start, and that his brief run ended after he was summoned to Jeffrey Katzenberg's office and let go.
13 days after filming began, Winkler said, “I then go to the set, I get my things, I drive home. I'm fired as a director.” That short tenure explains why the dispute has lingered: it was not a passing on-set irritation, but a directing assignment that collapsed almost immediately after he began giving notes.
Winkler on Hanks and Hooch
1993 brought the first public line that made the dynamic plain. Winkler told People, “Let's just say I got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner.” In 2019, he told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, “I got along great, great with that dog. Love that dog.”
2020 added a sharper wrinkle. Winkler told Vanity Fair, “What everybody says and what is true are two different things,” and said he did not have a feud with Tom Hanks. That same year, Hanks accepted his Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards, and the camera briefly panned to Winkler, who wore a blank expression. The image kept the old story alive, but Winkler’s comments showed he was still trying to separate a professional firing from a personal rift.
Sept. 9 leaves it open
Sept. 9 is the latest checkpoint, and it does not settle the matter. Asked about the relationship, Winkler said, “I am still working on my perspective,” and when pressed on whether it could be repaired, he answered, “Sure.”
That is the most useful reading for anyone tracking the Henry Winkler Tom Hanks feud: Winkler has again signaled that the gap is not closed, but he is leaving room for repair instead of hardening the split. Hanks has not publicly responded, so the story now sits with one side still talking and the other still silent.
