Getting the new “Fletch” sequel made took some sacrifice.
In a new interview with Uproxx, “Confess, Fletch” director Greg Mottola shared how star Jon Hamm help make the long-in-the-works film happen by taking a salary cut.
READ MORE: First Look At Jon Hamm In ‘Confess, Fletch’
According to Mottola, Miramax CEO Bill Block agreed to fully finance the film so long as the budget stayed at $20 million, with a 27-day shoot.
“So, basically, what we did is Jon gave back 60 percent of his salary to the budget,” the director revealed. “I gave back some of my salary, not as much as Jon because he’s richer than me and I’ve got three kids. And we bought three more days of shooting.”
Talking about the shoot, he continued, “We got it up to 30 days in Boston and one day in Rome. And we said, f**k it, we’re insane, we’re dumb. We’re going to make this movie. And then Miramax really supported us, creatively. They didn’t fight us on people we wanted to cast.”
Describing the film as more “comedy of manners — very talky, verbal comedy” than slapstick, Mottola added, “Jon and I were like, I think there’s an audience for this. And then we were told no, we don’t think so. We got a lot of, yeah, in a different time, a couple of years ago we would’ve bought this, but we’re making our own stuff and we don’t need it.”
Attempts to make a new “Fletch” film have been almost constant since the original Chevy Chase sequel “Fletch Lives” debuted in 1989, with projects involving Kevin Smith, Zach Braff and others failing to see the light of day.
