Reading Time: 3 minutes
Why don’t Henry Winkler and Tom Hanks seem to get along?
They both have long careers. They even worked together on projects — just not for many decades.
Additionally, they both have well-deserved reputations as two of the nicest, most decent men in Hollywood.
In a new interview, Winkler is opening up about how he’s still “working on” his feelings about their tension … and whether he’s open to putting the past behind them.
Henry Winkler discusses what allegedly ‘pissed off’ Tom Hanks
On the Wednesday, September 9 episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger, acting legend Henry Winkler discussed his tense relationship with fellow acting legend Tom Hanks.
Winkler’s demeanor and body language clearly shifted as the interview brought up Hanks.
Thinking back, Winkler shared his side of things from when he was briefly director of Turner & Hooch before getting fired.
Winkler, who was at one time best known as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on Happy Days but today is best known for smaller, beloved roles on comedy shows (and, of course, for his social media presence), recalled feeling out of his depth.
He now feels that, in his capacity as director, he over-directed … which is why his role lasted less than two weeks.
Turner & Hooch is a film from the late ’80s. It is a buddy cop film in which one of the buddies is a dog. The other is Tom Hanks’ character.
“I, at that time being insecure, I talked too much and I gave them direction,” Winkler admitted.
“I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again,” he recalled, “and apparently that pissed them off.”
Winkler ended up getting fired from the directing job, and admitted that he did not handle it well.
Even so, he remains unsure where the tension in his relationship with Hanks truly originates. This was not the first intersection in their careers.
He’s ‘still working’ on how he feels about all of this
Long before Turner & Hooch, Tom Hanks was not a movie star or a household name, but merely a guest star on Henry Winkler’s claim to fame.
“We did a retrospective of ‘Happy Days,’” Winkler recalled.
These retrospective documentaries are often nostalgia bait for people who watched these shows when they aired. They can also be educational for people who enjoy television and its rich history.
“And we wanted 60 seconds of Tom Hanks in his episode,” Winkler stated diplomatically, “and we did not get permission for that.”
In other words, he’s making it clear that there appear to be hard feelings from Hanks’ camp.
Winkler admitted that he is “still working” on his “perspective” about Hanks declining to participate.
He is, however, open to mending fences if he gets the chance.
It sounds like Hanks would have to feel similarly.
We’ll admit that it’s odd to hear about two of the — famously — nicest men in the entertainment industry not getting along.
Sometimes, two good and decent people just don’t like each other. Sometimes the vibes are bad. Maybe that’s all that there is to this.
Henry Winkler Shades Tom Hanks After Decades of Feuding Between Two of the Nicest Men in … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.