Henry Winkler was famously fired as the director of the 1989 film “Turner & Hooch,” which starred a young Tom Hanks.
Winkler explained during a Wednesday, September 9, appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” that his initial instinct told him that he was not “suited” to take on the position as the film’s director. However, after receiving encouragement from Paramount’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, Winkler agreed.
Winkler’s Firing
“So here is a lesson,” Winkler told Bensinger. “When your instinct says, ‘Uh-oh, danger. Warning sign.’ You do not question your tummy. You can question your brain, but never your tummy. I went completely against my tummy, and it hit me in the face with a two-by-four.”
According to Winkler, less than two weeks into filming, he was let go from directing the film.
“At that time, being insecure, I talked too much, and I gave them direction,” he recalled of the film’s stars, Hanks and Mare Winningham. “I thought [that] was my job, and I wanted to do it over again, and apparently that pissed them off.”
He went on to say that he was called into Katzenberg’s office and fired.
“I don’t handle it well. I’m devastated,” he said.
Despite the on-set drama, Winkler has fond memories of Hanks as a guest star in the 1970s sitcom, “Happy Days.”
“Tom, before he was a movie star, was on Happy Days. He was a guest star in Happy Days,” Winkler recalled. “I don’t know. We did a retrospective of Happy Days, and we wanted 60 seconds of Tom Hanks in his episode, and we did not get permission for that.”
Winkler added that he’s “still working” on his perspective over the whole drama, but is “sure” that the relationship can repair itself.
Retirement Plans
The 80-year-old star opened up to Bensinger about his desire to continue working after more than five decades in the industry. The “Arrested Development” star explained that he fears “withering” away if he were to retire.
“I think I have thought, not about dying necessarily, because I really love being on this Earth. I think about withering,” Winkler said. “I think about just dehydrating into a prune. I think I would just wither in the fall in the dark in a cemetery on a tree, the last leaf blowing.”
Winkler’s big break came as Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli in the 1970s sitcom “Happy Days.” He earned two consecutive Gold Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy for the role. After 11 seasons, he went on to star in film’s such as “The Waterboy” and “Scream,” as well as show’s like “Barry.” Winkler’s directorial debut came in the 1988 film “Memories of Me,” starring Billy Crystal.
“I love my job,” he told Bensinger. “It is like putting a uh a puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle together. Most of the pieces are the same color and you have to grade the color of your character and you don’t know where it is. And you find it and you discover it and you look for it and you listen to the director and the producer and the writer and you listen to what the other actors are saying about you and to you and then you you put it together. I’m just in heaven when I’m working.”
