This might come as a surprise to some of our younger readers out there, but Chevy Chase used to be really funny. The former Saturday Night Live star enjoyed a run of successful comedies in the 1980s, starring in films such as Caddyshack, ¡Three Amigos!, the Vacation series and Fletch before his career nosedived during the following decade, leading to horrendous efforts like Cops and Robbersons. Chase has been making a bit of a comeback lately, earning acclaim for his role in the TV series Community along with big screen roles in the likes of Hot Tub Time Machine, and now he’s been talking to Collider about the possibility of returning to two of his most popular characters.
“I’ve written an idea that would be basically like a ‘Swiss Family Griswold,’ said Chase, confirming that he and on-screen wife Beverly D’Angelo have been working on a script for a fifth Vacation adventure. “There’s a cruise, there’s a fire on the ship, we think the whole ship’s on fire and we jump—it’s just a little fire—and we end up on an island where we meet Randy somewhere who’s been left there from an old Survivor series.”
The Vacation series launched back in 1983 with the release of National Lampoon’s Vacation, which was directed by Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) from a script and story by the late John Hughes (The Breakfast Club). The film spawned the sequels European Vacation (1985), Christmas Vacation (1989) and Vegas Vacation (1997), along with the Clark W. Griswold-free Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure (2003) and the promotional short Hotel Hell Vacation (2010). Last year, New Line Cinema announced that a reboot/sequel was in the works, centring on Clark’s son, Rusty, and his own family trip to Walley World.
Meanwhile, Chase also had a few words about Fletch, which has long been rumoured for the reboot treatment: “I’m not gonna do Fletch unless I’m Fletch, if they start writing something for a kid who’s Fletch and I’m just helping out, ‘Bye.’ I mean, there’s no reason why, at my age, I can’t still be Fletch. I’ve always been getting this impression that they’d like me to be mentoring a younger Fletch type thing.” Personally, I’m not to sure that I’d like to see Chase back as Fletch, but I’d certainly be up for another Vacation. However, I’m not overly keen on his ‘Swiss Family Griswold’ idea, and casting on the project could prove complicated given the fact that Randy Quaid remains a fugitive from justice.
Originally published August 26, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
