But they had qualities that I did not know about-Gregory McDonald’s interested in social commentary in addition to making us laugh. I had a feeling I would, and I don’t know why I never got around to them: I love detective stories and crime fiction, I love comedy, and they’re very funny. Miramax had optioned all but the first book-I don’t know if anyone owns that-and he said, “What do you think of this idea?” I knew of the books but hadn’t read them, so I went off, read the first five to get a sense and loved them. I’m curious what preexisting relationship to the Fletch books, if any, you had before joining the project. I spoke to Mottola about Confess, Fletch, which opens in theaters and on PVOD this Friday before premiering on Showtime on October 28.įilmmaker: My understanding is that when you came in, Jon Hamm had been developing this film with Zev Borow. As a longtime fan of the source material, I’m probably a little too close to judge properly, but it was a pleasure to see the book come to life. It’s one of many changes-excisions (the gender politics of a very ’70s lesbian plotline wouldn’t scan well today), condensations and character overhauls-that smartly keep the bones of the book for a smart comedy that’s faithful to the source while cleverly delivering it into the present. Here, Fletch’s sparring-partner-turned-friend, the Irish cop Flynn, has (for reasons of necessity Mottola explains below) been turned into Detective Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.). Mottola’s adaptation (he rewrote a draft initially penned by Zev Borow) is in some ways faithful to the original text, beginning with the same abrupt situation: Fletch checks into his Boston lodgings only to find a dead girl’s body and calls the police department rather than 911. When I heard that Greg Mottola and Jon Hamm were teaming to adapt this material, I was obviously excited to see something I’ve read dozens of times come to life. For better and worse, Mcdonald’s books string together often hilarious dialogue exchanges with aspirationally Hemingway-esque connective prose they work better when the emphasis is on the former rather than the latter, and Confess, Fletch is at the top of the list.Īttempts at making a new Fletch film haven’t worked out for years (this extremely detailed Entertainment Weekly article from 2010 breaks down that torturous history). The original Fletch adaptation essentially retains the structure and basics of Mcdonald’s original but changes the tone to better suit Chase.

That often surprises people when I tell them that, not least because the name “Fletch” is less associated with Gregory Mcdonald’s genuinely funny novels than Chevy Chase’s considerably goofier incarnation of the journalist-sleuth in 1985’s Fletch and 1988’s Fletch Lives. I read Confess, Fletch for the first time in high school and, ever since, it’s remained a personal favorite. Confess Fletch, Greg Mottola, Gregory Mcdonald, Jon Hamm, Miramax, Sam Levy

Gregory mcdonald fletch books