Chevy: I Wrote Fletch
The character of Irwin Maurice Fletcher intrigued Hollywood from the beginning. Created by journalist Gregory McDonald and the star of a number of best-selling books, Fletch was an expert smartass — half journalist, half personal investigator, half guy-avoiding-his-ex-wives. However even getting the unique Fletch into film theaters was stuffed with false begins.
Over a ten-year interval, “all people on this planet who acts and is a male between the ages of 17 and 76 tried to get the function,” mentioned author McDonald in 1985. Even Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was angling for the function. “I like Mick Jagger, however he isn’t my thought of a younger American male,” the creator confessed. Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin additionally circled the half, however the mission continued to stall.
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Enter Chevy Chase, his profession tepid between the successes of Saturday Night time Reside and Caddyshack and box-office turds like Oh Heavenly Canine. Director Michael Ritchie gave Chevy Chase free rein to improvise his ass off in Fletch, for higher or worse. “I like props, like wigs and buck-teeth and glasses,” he informed The Occasions, and boy, you possibly can positive inform from watching Fletch.
After the movie grew to become a modest hit, at the very least relative to his current flops like Fashionable Issues and Underneath the Rainbow, Chase let a few of that improvising go to his head. “(Screenwriter) Andrew Bergman didn’t write Fletch. I wrote Fletch,” he mentioned. (Years later, he additionally took credit score for steering it.)
