ST. LOUIS — A reminder to movie buffs and Jon Hamm fans:
St Louis’ No. 1 celeb will hit the big screens (and the streams) on Friday with “Confess Fletch,” the latest take on the fictional newspaper reporter Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher created in a series of Gregory Mcdonald novels.
Hamm signed on to star in the movie back in 2020; shooting, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was delayed for about a year.
The character of Fletch was brought to the big screen twice in the 1980s with Chevy Chase in the lead role: “Fletch” (1985) and “Fletch Lives” (1989).
This latest effort will be based on Mcdonald’s second novel, in which our hero finds himself in Boston, in the middle of multiple murders while he tries to locate his girlfriend’s stolen art collection.
The cast also includes Hamm’s “Mad Men” co-star John Slatterty, Marcia Gay Harden and Kyle MacLachlan. The movie was written and directed by Greg Mattola, best known for helming “Superbad” and “Adventureland.”
Fans of the Chase movies should take note that Hamm has said he did not copycat those prior performances.
“I don’t want to imitate Chevy. I’m not interested in that and I don’t think anybody else would be,” Hamm told the Hollywood Reporter after signing on to the film.
“The character in the book’s a lot different than Chevy’s portrayal ... so maybe there’s a way to get a version that’s more true to life for the book,” he said.
Several attempts to reboot the Fletch series have come and gone in recent years, with A-list actors such as Ben Affleck and Ryan Reynolds being linked to the false starts.
The studio’s official trailer, which runs about 2.5 minutes, can be seen on YouTube.
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