Kevin Smith doing the next Fletch film (Fletch Won) has been one of the few projects in development that I’ve been really excited about. Well… you can take all that excitement, wrap it up in a little ball and flush it, because news is now coming out that Kevin Smith has been ditched from the project by the studio.
This is stupidity in it’s pure form. The good folks over at MovieHole give us the reasons the studio made this bone headed move:
“The movie is going to be made, and if all goes as planned should be in production in early ’06. Second, and correctly, Kevin Smith is no longer affiliated with the Fletch film as writer or director”, says David List, the film’s producer, to IMDB and NewsAskew.
“His type of comedy just isn’t ‘Fletch'”, List says of the vacating writer/director. “It’s not that Kevin isn’t talented or funny. It’s just that his comedic style, ultimately, proved not translate well for “Fletch,” at least as I and Harvey felt. Keep an open mind. There’s lot’s of very funny writers out there”.
Dumb dumb dumb. The ONLY reason any of us (or at least most of us) have been buzzing about a new Fletch film is BECAUSE Smith was involved with it. His humour and style are PERFECT for Fletch. I have no idea what these people are smoking, but it must be past it’s due date.
I have nothing to back this up with… but I’m willing to bet dollars to dimes that the reason this happened is because they couldn’t agree on who should get the lead role. (Studio wants Zach Braff and Smith wanted Jason Lee). We may never know. For now… all I know is that this sucks and my anticipation for Fletch has taken a serious hit.
