Jon Hamm is taking on a role made famous by Chevy Chase in a modern-day reboot of Fletch. Hamm will star in and executive produced the project which is set to be a new feature film about the brazen investigative reporter to be directed by Superbad‘s Greg Mottola.
Like the Chevy Chase films in the 1980s, the film is based on Gregory Mcdonald’s 1970s and 1980s “Fletch” mystery novels. The new film adaptation will specifically be based on the second book in the Mcdonald series, “Confess, Fletch.” In a mysterious chain of wild events, Fletch finds himself in the middle of multiple murders — one of which pins him as a prime suspect. While on a quest to prove his innocence, Fletch is tasked with finding his fiancée’s stolen art collection, the only inheritance she’s acquired after her father goes missing and is presumed dead.
The first Chase movie Fletch, directed by Michael Ritchie and released by Universal in 1985, made close to $60 million worldwide at the time. Stateside, it ranked No. 9 in the top 10 movies of the year with $50.6 million. The 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives, also directed by Ritchie and released by Universal, grossed $39.4 worldwide. In the Chase movies, Fletch was a man of multiple disguises and faux alter egos as he sought to get to the bottom of a story.
