Exclusive: Jon Hamm & Greg Mottola on Capturing Fletch in Whodunit Fashion

Jon Hamm stars as a former reporter “of some repute,” in Confess, Fletch as he searches for his lover’s stolen art collection while simultaneously having to clear his name of murder. “I’m excited for a new generation to be introduced to this character. It’s a fun story, it’s a genuinely surprising mystery that gets unraveled, and it’s truly funny. Those are three things that I’ve enjoyed when I choose my entertainment… so, I think it’s a very exciting thing for people to see,” said Hamm.

Alongside Hamm in the cast are Marcia Gay Harden, Kyle MacLachlan, Lorenza Izzo, John Slattery, Ayden Mayeri, Roy Wood Jr., and more. It’s directed by Greg Mottola, who also co-wrote the film with Zev Borow, based on the novel by Gregory McDonald.

“I’m most excited for the audience to see Jon in front and center in a movie like this, getting to do stuff that I knew he was capable of doing, yet maybe people haven’t seen as much. It’s a part that requires both dramatic acting and great comic timing, and a real lightness of touch. I feel like having a light touch is undervalued. It’s very hard. It’s very easy to have a lot of screaming scenes, but it’s harder to be light and funny, keep it moving, and keep it sustained over the course of the movie. I think Jon just does such a terrific job in it,” commented Mottola.

Based on the Novel by Gregory McDonald

“Gregory McDonald said that he wrote mysteries because he likes to be able to sneak in a little social criticism, and the book ‘Confess, Fletch’ has observations about the 1970s, and the sexual revolution and things that were going on then, that are funny and relevant, and well observed, but wouldn’t make much sense now. So, I tried to replace some of those concepts with talking about aspects of male privilege, white tone deafness, things like influencers, and aspects of the world that he finds himself in with mostly a lot of very wealthy people. I think because Jon looks the way he does, he could play a character that can easily move around in that world, and they would accept him, but I don’t think Fletch’s values are the same as those people of the yacht club, for instance. I think he actually really cares about the little guy and wants to do what’s right and find justice, even though he’ll break the law to help find it. In the end, it gets to the right place,” said Mottola.

This can be seen in both the actions of Fletch and in the way that he speaks with other characters in the film, oftentimes being in the know when they seem to be pontificating beyond their own understanding. In one scene, we see him speaking with a wealthy person who uses the word “bespoke” to explain artwork, of which she can’t explain the meaning when he asks for clarification. “It’s when it betalks,” she replies, though as Hamm simplified in our interview, “bespoke is actually tailored to your specific desires, that’s what it truly means. We go off on a pretty funny tangent in a scene in the film, but yes, a bespoke suit is something made specifically for you. I’ve had the very good fortune of having quite a few bespoke suits in my life, and they feel very nice.”

Related: Confess, Fletch Review: Jon Hamm Succeeds in Bringing Fletch to a New Generation

Capturing Comedy in Confess, Fletch

The scene Hamm referred to that includes the tangent takes place in a kitchen as multiple characters collide in a slew of misunderstandings that ultimately results in Fletch taking the brunt of it all.

“For Greg, it’s like directing traffic in Times Square,” commented Hamm when asked what it was like to capture it. “When I’ve directed episodes of Madmen, for example, the more people you add in a scene exponentially makes it more difficult to control and remember what you’ve got, what you don’t have, what you need, and what matches and what doesn’t. So that’s when you really depend upon not only your crew, but you depend upon each other as actors, and everything really has to flow as a team for a scene like that to succeed.”

“We did make a smart decision, which is on the weekend, we had dinner in that location and then rehearsed it. So at least we kind of had a sense of where we would be without the entire crew just sitting there waiting and staring at you saying, ‘When are we going to start,’ because those things take a lot of time to figure out,” added Mottola.

Confess, Fletch is set to release in theaters and on VOD on September 16, 2022, from Paramount Global Distribution Group. It will later premiere on Showtime on October 28.