Watch out, mattress-tag removers--the mattress policeman is back.
Zach Braff, the star of NBC sitcom Scrubs, is set to take on the role of Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, the wisecracking investigative reporter twice played by SNL funnyman Chevy Chase. The new movie will be written and directed by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence.
Lawrence will make the prequel Fletch Won for the Weinstein Company. Fletch Won, based on the novel of the same name by Fletch creator Gregory McDonald, follows Fletch through his early days as a sarcastic journalist and shows how he became an investigative reporter.
In 2005, Braff made the big-screen jump with his self-directed Garden State. Lawrence is also the creator of Nobody's Watching, the orphaned sitcom that recently became an Internet sensation.
The original Fletch, directed by Bad News Bears helmer Michael Ritchie, was released in the summer of 1985 and grossed $85 million in unadjusted dollars. In one memorable scene, a bewigged Chase is accosted by a gun-toting baddie, at which point he informs the villain, "Mattress police, you're under arrest--these tags have been removed." A sequel, Fletch Lives, was released in 1989.
Fans of the first movies breathed a collective sigh of relief when Braff became the front-runner over steroidal jokester Ryan Reynolds. Also in the running was Arrested Development star Jason Bateman.
Lawrence says he thinks audiences will welcome a Fletch origins movie with slightly more edge.
"I'd compare this one more to Beverly Hills Cop, where there was a sense of real jeopardy," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Like Batman Begins, I [also] think people will enjoy seeing how Irwin Fletcher became Fletch."
As far as Zach Braff playing Fletch, I say if he is interested; I'm sure he'll do a gret job.
I just wanted to say that Scrubs is hilarious and I think that the entire group of actors are great. Of course, I have to say Zach is sooo handsome, he can make me laugh and as I've seen in his in his other works he is very intelligent & yes I'm a female and 31.
Good Luck Zach
Zach Braff is a brilliant actor, and is the perfect choice to play Fletch. Pairing him with Bill Lawrence is guaranteed brilliance as anybody who has ever seen Scrubs can attest to.
Absolutely brilliant choice. Zach can play serious and he can play funny. Fletch is supposed to be both. I adore the original movies, but the fact is, Chevy made them more slap-sticky than the Fletch from the books. The books WERE edgier than the movies were. So if Bill wants it to be that way, then it is he that's staying closer to the books. I, for one, am tickled pink about this. After Jason Lee backed out I was bummed. This more than makes up for it. It just feels right. Now I can sit in the corner and count the days til release :)
I think Will Ferrell would have been the best choice for this character. He is the only other actor who is like Chevy...Zack is funny, Scrubs funny.. But not any other kind of funny...And I am watching Scrubs season 5 and it feels like they all got some new writers, cause it is just not funny in that same way as it used to be..
Zach Braff makes a good choice, but i think Jason Bateman would've been better...
Interesting! I think Zack Braff could be a good choice for the role....it always makes me a little nervous when people take a classic and say 'we're going to make it EDGIER", though...still, I'll be on the lookout for more info.
What abou the rumor of a Kevin Smith remake starring Jason Lee as Fletch? That would have been awesome. This might be OK.
As long as he'll avoid the sentimental overdrive he lays on in Scrubs, Braff will do fine as Fletch.
they are, freaks, it is 'fletch won' a prequel written by mcdonald. it says so roght in the story! (don't give the users more fodder)
The books are good, I hope they use one of them for the movie.