By Dana Barbuto | The Patriot Ledger | July 15, 2022
The crime-comedy “Confess, Fletch,” which was partially shot in Cohasset, is coming to cinemas and cable this fall.
The movie, which stars Jon Hamm (“Madmen”), will have a limited theatrical release and debut on Premium Video-on-Demand Sept. 16 before premiering on Showtime Oct. 28, Paramount announced Wednesday.
Cohasset’s sprawling 45-room waterfront Oaks Estate was the backdrop for scenes in the movie that were shot last July when the property was turned into the fictional Mayflower Yacht Club.
Gerry Butler, the home’s owner, told The Patriot Ledger last August that much of the filming took place on the home’s private dock.
“Basically, it’s all happening outside,” he said. “We have a big pier and there’s a schooner the movie company purchased, along with some other boats.”
One of the key scenes involves a nighttime break-in of the schooner, as well as some pyrotechnics on the pier.
“Confess, Fletch” is a reboot of the iconic 1985 comedy with Hamm taking over the Chevy Chase part as the titular wisecracking reporter. Greg Mottola (“Superbad”) directs.
The film also stars Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden (“Pollock”), Kyle MacLachlan (“Twin Peaks”) and “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr., as well as Hamm’s “Mad Men” co-star and Boston native John Slattery, who has family in Scituate.
“Fletch” is the character from Shrewsbury native Gregory Mcdonald’s series of 1970s mystery novels. The movie is an adaptation of the second book.As Irwin Maurice Fletcher, Hamm plays a guy on the other side of law, trying to clear his name after he’s pegged as the prime suspect in a murder.
The film runs 108 minutes.
Hamm is no stranger to filming movies in Boston. He played an FBI agent in Ben Affleck’s 2010 Charlestown-based crime thriller “The Town.”
Hollywood loves the Oaks Estate
The 9.5-acre Oaks Estate — also known locally as the Roy Estate and the Cox Estate – has long appealed to Hollywood. The Margin Street mansion served as the main setting for the teen psychological thriller “Thoroughbreds” and some outdoor shots appeared prominently in the 1987 film, “The Witches of Eastwick.”
A majestic Georgian Revival mansion, the home includes 13 fireplaces, 11 bathrooms and 10 bedrooms, a library, a gallery and an English-style pub in the basement. A wooden footbridge leads from the main property to a sheltered deep-water dock and private beach. A chess board with 2-foot-tall stone pieces is poolside and there are six built-in grilling stations, one of them atop a rooftop deck that offers a panoramic view of the harbor.
The home was first built in 1932 by Jessie Cox, granddaughter of well-known financier Clarence Barron and member of the famous Cohasset family that founded the Dow Jones Company, The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s Weekly.
In 1989, Cohasset resident Peter Roy bought the property for $3 million. At the time, it was the largest residential real estate transaction ever made in town. In 2018, Roy sold the estate for $12.5 million to the Butlers.
Scenes for “Confess, Fletch” were also shot in Worcester at the police station and at the Telegram & Gazette offices in Mercantile Center and in Boston’s South End.