Marvel superstar
Chris Evans ("Captain America") has joined Ruben Fleischer's ("Zombieland")
Jekyll, a feature film based on the 2007 BBC One miniseries starring Northern
Irish actor James Nesbitt, and created by Sherlock's Steven Moffat. The project
has been set at Lionsgate.
Set in the
modern-day, the six-episode miniseries centers around Nesbitt's Dr. Tom Jackman,
a descendent of Dr. Jekyll, who is beginning to show the trademark split personality
of his ancestor. In fear for his family, Jackman leaves without explaining why
and settles with a helpful psychiatric nurse in a fortified basement where he
is strapped to a chair as he transforms into the vicious, violent, and strong
Mr. Hyde. Despite co-existing within the same body, neither personality knows
what the other does while in control of the body, thus they talk with each
other via recorded messages. One day, desperate to reunite with his family Jackman
returns home only to have his body taken over by Hyde who learns about them.
Fleischer will direct
Jekyll from a script penned by Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, the
writing duo behind Shane Black's The Nice Guys, as well as the upcoming Death Note
adaptation and Doc Savage.
Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff
Kleeman, and Marc Platt are producing the film through their A Very Good
Production banner.
However, Lionsgate is
not the only studio currently developing a feature film based on the Robert
Louis Stevenson iconic character. Universal Pictures is also in the race with a
project of their own with Russell Crowe set to star. Universal's version is
part of a shared universe centered on their classic movie monsters such as
Dracula, the Invisible Man, and The Mummy. Crowe will first appear as Dr. Henry
Jekyll in the aforementioned The Mummy, which also stars Sofia Boutella and Tom
Cruise.
It's unclear if
Jekyll will be Fleischer's next project though since he is also developing a
Zombieland sequel for Sony Pictures.
Source - Deadline
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