Greg Mottola, director of the new crime comedy Confess, Fletch (now in cinemas), spoke with Uproxx about how he and co-star Jon Hamm unconventionally dealt with budget constraints while filming. When asked about his experience attempting to adapt one of Gregory Mcdonald’s mystery books for the big screen, Mottola said that actor Jon Hamm helped him finish filming when money prevented him from doing so.
According to Mottola, Hamm, who plays the film’s titular character, gave up a chunk of his income in order to help get Confess, Fletch created. In his own words, Mottola remarked, “Jonathan effectively contributed sixty per cent of his payback to the financial plan. Since I support a family of three and am not as well off financially as Jon is, I decided to return a portion of my pay to the company. And we extended our shoot by three additional days! We increased the Boston limit to 30 days and the Rome limit to one day. And we said, “f*** it,” since we’re obviously nuts and stupid. This film will be produced by us. Then, Miramax gave us a lot of artistic freedom and encouragement. People we intended to cast were not contested by them.
The narrative of a former investigative reporter who is suspected of murder while looking into the disappearance of an expensive art collection is told in the 1976 novel of the same name by author MacDonald, from which the film Confess, Fletch takes its title. Other notable actors featured in Confess, Fletch include Roy Wood Jr., Lorenza Izzo, Kyle MacLachlan, Annie Mumolo, John Behlmann, John Slattery, Lucy Punch, Marcia Gay Harden, and Ayden Mayeri, in addition to Hamm. The film was directed by Mottola and he co-wrote the script with Zev Borow.
In addition to starring, Hamm also had a key role in producing the picture alongside Bill Block and Connie Tavel. Although Confess, Fletch isn’t exactly breaking records at the box office, it’s a critical smash, with an impressive 85% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. The success of Confess, Fletch has prompted producer Greg Mottola to begin work on a sequel based on Fletch’s Fortune, a novel about a journalism conference. In a brief interview with Uproxx, Mottola teased his possible sequel by saying, “I can think of a million ways to implement that into the current craziness of the world.
Currently, in theatres, Confess, Fletch will make its Showtime debut on October 28.