Golden Globe– and Emmy Award–winning actor Jon Hamm will co-produce and star in an upcoming film adaptation of Gregory Mcdonald’s 1976 comedy/mystery novel, Confess, Fletch, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The new movie will act as a reboot of the popular but short-lived 1980s movie franchise starring Chevy Chase. It included 1985’s Fletch (from Mcdonald’s 1974 series-starter) and 1989’s Fletch Lives, which wasn’t based on a specific book. Greg Mottola is slated to direct the new film; he’s best known for helming the 2007 comedy Superbad.
Mcdonald’s Fletch series spanned 11 novels, finishing with 1994’s Fletch Reflected. It followed the exploits of dogged newspaper journalist Irwin Maurice “Fletch” Fletcher, who very often found himself investigating murders. In Confess, Fletch, the second installment, his fiancée’s father is abducted and her family’s art collection stolen; later, someone tries to frame Fletch for a terrible crime. The same novel introduced police detective Francis Xavier Flynn, who became the star of his own book series. Its final entry, 2003’s Flynn’s World, would be Mcdonald’s last published novel before his 2008 death.
The prolific author penned two books in a third, unrelated mystery series featuring Southerner Skylar Whitfield: 1995’s Skylar and 1997’s Skylar in Yankeeland. Two of his standalone novels were adapted as films, as well—1964’s Running Scared, which became a 1972 movie starring Robert Powell, and 1991’s The Brave, which served as the basis for a 1997 film featuring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
