"Scrubs" creator and producer Bill Lawrence is planning to shoot his first feature film, "Fletch Won," during his hiatus this spring. He hopes to enlist Zach Braff to play the title role, but already the task of writing and directing is a scary prospect for the TV mogul.
"I have been so comfortable in the TV business for so long, I’ve not operated without a net," said Lawrence. "So I am so scared about doing ‘Fletch’ because I just have nightmares about f***ing it up. Not only would it bum me out personally, but I’m such a fan, it’s the first time I’ve ever done anything that all my closest friends that I grew up with have each taken the time to call me and said, ‘If you mess this up, we’re going to kill you.’"
Based on Gregory McDonald’s prequel novel, "Fletch Won" is the story of ace investigative journalist Irwin Fletcher’s first story. Set before the 1985 Chevy Chase movie and originally written in early ’80s, the film will take place in present day.
"I modernized it. I think it’s more tonally close to the book than anything else because the first one was Chevy Chase in his kind of sketch arena. It’s not as sketchy [but] it’s not that close to the book. I used definitely a lot of the plot elements but tonally, it’s a lot closer to the book and the books than the first ‘Fletch‘ movie was. I’m a huge Greg McDonald fan. I read all the novels before I even saw the movie. The dialogue just pops. You can basically cut out pages and just shoot them, the guy writes such good dialogue."
Of course, that’s not how Lawrence wrote the script. "I probably should have. He’s a better writer than I am."
