Famous director who got sacked from film ‘got on with animal co-star’ better than Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks is one of the most beloved actors of his generation, and his been a part of some of the most popular movies of all time. However, the actor may not have got along with absolutely everyone throughout his career, including one of his earlier credits.
Hanks played police officer Scott Turner in a 1989 film opposite a dog, played by Beasley the Dog, in a buddy-cop comedy that caught the attention and hearts of movie-goers at the time.
After all, how many other films at the time had a dog as one of its main characters? But as cute as they may be, they can be a pain to work with on set.
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Before you start to worry and look at Hanks differently, he didn't fall out with the canine - it was actually the director that the American actor seemingly had a problem with on the set of Turner & Hooch.
That is, if Henry Winkler is to be believed.
Winkler, best known for his roles as 'Fonzie' on Happy Days and as Coach Klein in The Waterboy, is a seasoned actor and director in his own right.
And when he was trying to add more credits to his directing resume, he was hired as director for Turner & Hooch, his second gig in the chair, though he was ultimately replaced by Roger Spottiswoode, weeks into production,
Speaking to PEOPLE in 1993, he said about being on the set with Hanks: "Let’s just say I got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner."
He reflected on his comments over 25 years later, telling talk show host Andy Cohen in 2019 that he 'got along great, great with that dog', but not so much with Hanks himself.
However, a year later, he told TMZ: "What everybody says and what is true are two different things."
The details of the two stars' apparent 'feud' seemed murky at best.
But in 2024, speaking on the How to Fail podcast, Winkler spoke about being fired as director weeks into the film, seeming to pin it all back to one incident.
"We were in Carmel, this little seaside wonderful town on the coast of California, looking for a location and a woman comes, honest to God, comes running out of a shop and says, 'Henry, Fonz! Oh, my God!' and I say, 'And of course you know Tom Hanks'," the 79-year-old recalled.
But then, he dropped the bombshell: "The director of photography, when I was fired 13 days into filming said, 'I knew that this was going to happen, on that day in Carmel'."
He even explained that he had carried out '11 weeks' of preparation before being sacked, and said that he even 'became friends' with Beasley the dog, but failed to do the same with the male lead.
But as the star has gone back and forth for years, there's no way to be sure about the true cause of his firing.
Regardless, both Hanks and Winkler have gone on to have successful careers, with the latter going on to be a part of successful films and series, such as dark comedy TV show Barry, which earned him an Emmy.
Hanks went on to win back-to-back Oscars in 1993 and 1994, so the 'feud' didn't ruin any careers.
Joshua Nair