John Slattery Talks Reuniting With 'Mad Men' Co-Star Jon Hamm for 'Confess, Fletch' (Exclusive)
Mad Men fans will be thrilled to know that the show's two biggest stars have reunited for the new whodunit-comedy Confess, Fletch. In the film, Jon Hamm plays the title role of Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a former investigative reporter, and Slattery plays Frank Jaffe, Fletch's old boss who runs Boston Herald Now. The dynamic is not a new one for the two actors, as fans will remember, since, in Mad Men, Slattery played Roger Sterling, boss to Hamms' Don Draper.
PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with the cast of the film, and during our conversation with Slattery the actor explained that his involvement with the film was partly due to how much Mad Men fans would enjoy seeing himself and Hamm on-screen together again in a capacity similar to the relationship of their characters from the award-winning AMC series. "We do have a good rapport. We get along well as friends and as colleagues and stuff, but it was in the script, I mean, this kind of antagonistic relationship," Slattery said. "But Fletch kind of does that to everybody. He kind of comes into people's lives and turns them upside down and then makes a quick exit. So I think he leaves a trail of people going, 'What the hell was that?,' including Frank, and I think he gets a charge out of messing with Frank."
Slattery continued, "But yeah, that's I think one of the reasons I was asked to do it, was a kind of a Roger, Don revisit vibe-wise, and there's no point in trying to deny that or create some other vibe. I mean, I think that's what was there in the original story, the Fletch story, and it just kind of fits."
Confess, Fletch is based on a novel of the same name by late author Gregory McDonald, and it is the third film in the Fletch movie series, after Fletch (1985) and Fletch Lives (1989). While speaking with Hamm and Greg Mottola — the movie's writer/director — the filmmaker explained that this new movie is a story that "essentially" takes place after "the events of the original film," with Hamm playing the role originated by Chevy Chase and Slattery taking over a role first played by "the great Richard Libertini." Slattery expressed a huge level of respect and appreciation for Libertini, while making it clear that his version of Frank is very different, and on purpose.
"I just love Richard Libertini in everything," he said. "Yeah, but there's no point in trying to recreate anything any of those guys did, because they were iconic and that would just be a fool's errand. And this was so specifically written, and Greg is his own man and is super talented and smart and funny and confident in what works, as is Hamm. So really, it was my day one... I only had a couple scenes, so it was a good set to walk onto because those guys knew what they wanted, and we just kind of messed around a little bit with it until they were happy." Confess, Fletch is now playing in select theaters and is available to rent or buy on VOD from Apple, Amazon, and more.