Posted by Johnboy at proxy.iwerks.com on February 10, 2000 at 18:14:56:
In Reply to: Kevin - Chevy would like a note posted by lovyhowl on February 10, 2000 at 15:33:12:
OK, it's been a while, but Kevin addressed this once. If the old boards hadn't been lost in the hard drive crash of a few months back I might have been able to dig it up. However, failing that, here's what I recall:
* Kevin was indeed interested in writing a Fletch script.
* The studio wanted to do it without Chevy Chase. Kevin insisted on Chevy to be Fletch as, in his view, no one could do it better.
* Kevin had a meeting with Chevy (and others) in which Chevy generally treated Kevin like a piece of dirt - very egotistical, making statements about how he would do the movie - unaware that Kevin was in the driver's seat.
* Kevin informed Chevy that he was all about the script. Chevy said he preferred to improvise. And that was pretty much the end of the meeting.
* Despite the inherent difficulties of working with an actor whose preferred method of acting goes against your method of writing and directing, Kevin stuck with the project.
* Then Dogma started to heat up. Kevin had planned to get in Fletch before starting Dogma. Kevin started to see just how much work Dogma was going to be. Since it was his own project, Dogma took precedence.
* Kevin informed the studio he would be unavailable for over a year. The studio did not pursue Kevin any more.
Now, maybe the studio didn't bother to tell Chevy about this...although it would be very hard to believe that an actor of Chevy Chase's long standing in Hollywood would remain uninformed for over a year. I think it far more likely that Chevy kept hoping that Kevin would come around, writing a script that would not incidentally provide a boost to Chevy's career.
It seems likely that Chevy is simply pissed off that he couldn't get Kevin back on board. And he's bad mouthing Kevin to boot. Pardon me for saying so, but Chevy is acting bitter and looking like a washed up actor hoping to be saved. Problem is, Kevin isn't interested any more.
John