Caffeinated Clint
The boys are taking the proposed "Fletch Won" with them, it seems, when they clear their desks and unhook their block-mounted Vincent Perez posters from the wall when they leave.
Talking to the Fletch Won website, "Fletch" author Gregory McDonald says the prequel film – set to star Zach Braff as a younger incarnation of the character previously played by Chevy Chase – is still a priority for the Weinsteins.
"I am extremely pleased to tell you that Harvey Weinstein is as good as his word. Since his return from Cannes he has had many
conversations regarding FLETCH, with us and others, some quite forceful. He has
uttered many gracious assertions, recommitted himself to the FLETCH project significantly and in various ways, and states he is "fully and permanently devoted to and focused on the Fletch film franchise." To my delight finally he seems to be bringing his own huge energy, talents,
creativity to something we all care about so much."
Writer Kevin Smith also chatted recently about the film, telling About.com that Zach Braff’s as good as in as the younger Irwin.
"I guess. It depends. Hopefully, yeah, he’s in. We met, chatted about it. I got to get him a current draft of the script after I do some more work on it, bring the page count down a little bit. But he’d be a great choice and that’s who everyone’s leaning towards", he said.
"He’s [Braff] kind of deft with a subtle comedic performance which is what the movie calls for. It’s not overt like the first two Fletch movies. It’s closer to the book and the books are closer to an Elmore Leonard type of thing. Whenever I think about Fletch Won, or my version of it, the version I want to do, it feels to me like Out of Sight, the Soderbergh version of the Elmore Leonard book. The first two Fletch movies, and one of which I absolutely love, is far more broad and involves a lot more physical comedy."
Did the book give him any plot points? "Yeah, I did not depart from the book much at all because the book is such an amazing road map. I’ve always been a big fan of the book so I tried not to stray as much as possible. So it was a pretty easy adaptation. I mean, the mystery was there. It was something that I felt like I love the source material so I want to honor the source material while sticking to it as closely as possible."
And what about the original ‘Fletch’, Mr Chevy Chase, will he be involved? "Since it’s kind of a year one story, for the version I want to do which is close to the book, there’d be no place for Chevy Chase just because it’s a story about how Fletch first got his job on the paper. So he has to be much younger. So no. I haven’t spoken to Chevy Chase about it or reached out to Chevy Chase. I don’t think Chevy Chase likes me anyway which is fine. The feeling’s mutual".
