It looks like Dr. Jekyll has a lot on his plate. In addition to fighting his base instincts in the form of Mr. Hyde, he'll also be in a box office battle with himself. While Russell Crowe will be playing the character in Universal's upcoming reboot of THE MUMMY, Chris Evans will be filling out the role in the upcoming flick JEKYLL, based on the BBC One mini-series from Steven Moffat.
The flick has finally nabbed a director, and it's a good'un: ZOMBIELAND helmer Ruben Fleischer. Although the scheduling is a bit complicated (Fleischer) is currently working on ZOMBIELAND 2 and Evans is tied up in CAPTAIN AMERICA obligations, the movie has gotten much more interesting. Fleischer (who also directed 30 MINUTES OR LESS) has a fun, bubbly filming style that should translate well to a modern update of a classic character. More news as they head into development!
Evans will play:
Tom Jackman, a modern-day descendant of Jekyll who is beginning to exhibit the trademark split personality. The father and husband abandons his family, without explaining why, and lives in a fortified basement with a psychiatric nurse as his ally. When they strap the doctor to a metal chair, she watches him transform into an alter ego who rages, shows heightened strength and speed and can be a charming, flirtatious scoundrel as well. The two personalities try to co-exist, even though one doesn’t remember what the other does while in control of the body. They use a microcassette to leave messages for each other. Unable to stay away from the family he left behind for their own safety, he visits his wife, Hyde assumes control and learns about them, and things grow very complicated.
The Lionsgate project is being produced by Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman of A Very Good Production.
Anthony Bagarozzi (THE NICE GUYS), and Chuck Mondry (DOC SAVAGE) wrote the script.