Reel Crime
By J. Rentilly
Here's the name you probably know: Irwin Maurice Fletcher. He's a journalist and a straight arrow (hence his name), who is possessed of irrepressible charm, wit, and a mind capable of cartwheeling through the most labyrinthine murder mystery, conspiracy, or grift. He was played by Chevy Chase in two popular films of the 1980s. Here's the name you should know: Gregory Mcdonald. He's the man who created Fletch in an Edgar-winning series of nine mysteries that have sold over a hundred million copies worldwide. A former Boston Globe reporter, five-times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Macdonald is a low-key but intellectually rapacious gentleman, who now lives on a working farm in Tennessee. Mcdonald also penned the equally delicious Flynn mystery series, as well as critically heralded "mainstream" fiction, such as Exits and Entrances (1988) and The Brave (1991). Yet Mcdonald, largely by choice, has remained elusive, avoiding the limelight and allowing his unforgettable characters to do the talking for him. And talk they do.
This spring, a new installment of Fletch will go into production as a major motion picture: Fletch Won (1985) was one of the last Fletch books, but it told the origin of the character.
In a rare interview, Mcdonald, 71, discusses the joys and agonies of writing, the ups and downs of success, and his (mis)adventures in Hollywood.
Tell me why you wanted to write and how you started out.
I don't understand people who want to write. It's like taking your SATs every day of your life. I tried my first short story at eight, two con men trying to out-con each other. By 16, I was drafting Exits and Entrances. Years between, I wrote what seems like millions of words, experimenting, trying to do without punctuation, etc., trying carpentry without nails and screws, discovering for myself their necessity. I love to make words dance. I want you to hear with your eyes. The compulsion, at least in my case, may be, I find experience so interesting I want to share it with the world.
Between the publication of your first novel, Running Scared (1964), and Fletch (1974), you served as a journalist in Boston. Why the time between books? How did your newspaper experience inform the subsequent books?
Seven years as a journalist because we were married, making babies, [and] I needed the weekly paycheck. Also, the public reaction to my first novel, Running Scared, written at age 23, was truly frightening. Once, after the book was published, a man who had every reason to talk to me refused to do so. Later, a mutual friend told me this man had said that after writing Running Scared I should have retired to the mountains and never written anything again. Journalism, I think, caused me to make my work more accessible. Also, as newspaper print got bigger, my column got shorter, maybe making me more concise.
What's the difference between being a journalist and being a novelist?
As a journalist, writer, editor, everything seen or heard, you have to sniff: Is it a story? You have to develop 10, 20 ideas a week. In this way, being a novelist is easier; you develop only a few ideas a year, maybe over 50 years. Few make the transition successfully. Thankfully, I was a successful novelist before I was a journalist.
The Fletch books continue to sell a million copies a year. How does this kind of success affect and influence one's life and one's writing process?
Walking some sidewalk-New York, Rio, London, Paris-always working Chapter 17, I notice people hesitating, looking at me, as if wanting to say hello. "Oh, yeah. I'm Greg Mcdonald." By the corner, my head is back working out Chapter 17. As a journalist, and for as long as possible as a novelist, I tried my best to suppress pictures of me. I want the person sitting next to me on the bus to talk with me. Too, there is the peculiar way I write: point my finger and then get myself out of the scene. (Some make the comment that as a result, people know the names of my characters, but not the name of their author. Good.) Always, I have been more motivated by getting people to stop hitting each other over the head than by money or fame. All I've asked is freedom to continue writing. What have I most hated? When mobbed, these women who insist on outmaneuvering me to kiss me on the lips, scratch my neck with fingernails. Some kind of game, I guess. Happened many times. Only times I ever wanted to hit a woman.
Why do you think your non-mystery books like The Brave or A World Too Wide didn't connect with the same vast readership? How do your publishers respond when Mr. Mcdonald wants to "get serious" and write a non-mystery novel?
Famously, with millions of books sold worldwide, I accepted a $10 advance from a small, brave publisher for my hugely praised (but non-mystery) novel, Safekeeping. Red-faced, my mystery editor screamed at me in his office for all the world to hear. I was "ruining my image." We were never as good friends after that. I had rejected writing under two or more names. I know the wide variety of my work has confused everybody. At least Americans love images as cartoons, so much easier, the football player, the actress, the author. I had to decide there is only one Greg Mcdonald. I hope history will straighten out context.
One of the marvelous things about your mystery novels is that your heroes are men of action, yet there is a breezy brilliance and a charming irreverence to Fletch and Flynn, who always solve their problems with cunning, not fisticuffs.
I'm pleased to be called "The Master of the Sunlight Mystery." At least there has been that much criticism. To quote Fletch, "We're all mysteries awaiting solution." Or Flynn: "We're all histories awaiting execution." The only question resolved by violence is who is the stronger-not the height of intelligence, interest, or value. A violent resolution mostly impedes understanding.
It's been almost 20 years since the last Fletch film. The last few years have been rich with rumors and speculation. What developments, film-wise, have particularly piqued your interest, and what's the latest information?
People who really love the Fletch books insist on telling me how much they hate the Chevy Chase Fletch movies. I don't know. Two famous filmmakers, nameless here, recently aligned to the new Fletch movies said the identical thing to me over the phone: "Your dialogue is so great all I have to do is underline, hand books to the cast, and start filming." They were serious. Both failed utterly after huge wastes of time and money. Simple is not easy. Simplicity is the hardest achievement in both life and art. I met a man once who had read in a magazine it took three hours, forty-five minutes to read some book of mine. He seriously asked, "Is that as long as it takes you to write a book?"
What have your experiences in Hollywood been like?
Every time I have flown out of Los Angeles I've been happy with thoughts of all the good stuff about to happen. At 30,000 feet I always remember I just left the City of Illusion. Johnny Depp, as screenwriter, director, actor made an incredible mess out of The Brave. Only help he accepted was from his friend, Marlon Brando, who contributed considerably to the perfect mess. I understand discs of this movie do exist. Often people come by with plans to mess up Safekeeping, the Flynn books, others of my novels, for which I always express gratitude. But there's nothing going right now except the Fletch movie, which Harvey Weinstein assures me will be in production this spring. That's all I know about that.
By your own estimation, the Fletch series is a "quest for identity." What are your thoughts on this?
Yes, the last Fletch novel I wrote, Fletch, Too (1986), pretty much resolves Fletch's character-his moral experience, components. Story over, don't you think?
WHO WILL BE THE NEXT FLETCH?
Rumors abound as to who will next pick up Fletch's notebook and play the sharp-tongued, cool-knuckled journalist. When Clerks director Kevin Smith was attached to write and direct Fletch Won, he was keen on bringing along one of his regular players, Jason Lee. Matthew Perry and John Cusack reportedly actively campaigned for a role in the project. When Smith's deal collapsed, in stepped Scrubs creator and producer Bill Lawrence, who wanted Scrubs frontman Zach Braff to play the journalist. With production tentatively scheduled to begin in May, Grosse Pointe Blank writer Steve Pink is behind the cameras, with John Krasinski of The Office in talks to play I.M. Fletcher. Until "action" is called, though, it's still a mystery.
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