Keanu to Star in New 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'

With Universal apparently not 100% jazzed over where the new remake of The Wolfman is at this point, I was a little surprised to learn that it is already prepping for another monster movie remake. Clearly, the studio wants to give audiences new spins on these classics, but shouldn't Universal gauge the reaction to the one that's on the way in a few months first? The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Keanu Reeves is attached to star in an update of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the great Robert Louis Stevenson novella about a split personality that the bedridden author wrote and re-wrote in a matter of only a couple of weeks. Since then, there have been a lot of variations on stage and screen; Fredric March won an Oscar playing the scientist and his evil potion-powered alter ego, whose influence on Jekyll increases throughout the story. Is Keanu the right guy for this project? The Magic 8 Ball tells me, "Outlook Not So Good." Sure, Reeves has a good box office history, but I don't know that he'd be my first choice to play the lead in a movie about duality. Even singularity gives him fits from time to time. I can think of dozens of guys who might be better selections - and I even like Reeves from time to time. But a range of emotions? Not his game. Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) will write the screenplay for the new Jekyll and Hyde, with Nicolas Winding Refn emerging as a possible director. It should be pointed out that this is an entirely different project than the one Gullermo del Toro and Universal have in mind. Jekyll is one of about a half-dozen film ideas del Toro vows to complete before 2017, but we're only getting The Hobbit movies between now and 2012 from him, so the odds are the Keanu Jekyll and Hyde will be four or five years before del Toro's. And while del Toro will go back to Stevenson's original text for a more literal interpretation, the specific road the Keanu project will take is not yet known.

Comments

[Anybody]

Keanu could so play a double character, as long as one is a surfer dude and the other has no visible emotions whatsoever... lets just hope he leaves his english accent out of the mix, the one that he used to singularly make another monster movie almost unbearable to watch (thank god for Gary Oldman but even he couldn't save Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula).

[lestat]

Keanu is a horrible actor - its amazing professional people believe he still has talent. Have they seen his movies? I absolutely agree with the comment above - He ruined Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'd rather see Lorenzo Lamas or Steven Seagal play the lead here.

[tejas]

Its gonna be legendary if keanu plays the character.

[Get The Big Picture]

I vote Lamas as Jekyll and Seagal as Hyde.

[The Codex]

I am sorry but Sean Bean is the man who should cast in this role. He can roll from very, very good to very, very evil convincingly. And he has the English accent too.