Fans got their first glimpse at Eddie Izzard in the upcoming Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reimagining last year, though today brings a full look at Izzard as Nina Jekyll, courtesy of Fangoria. Thanks to films like last month’s Renfield, the upcoming Doctor Jekyll looks to be the latest example of a beloved figure being reimagined in an unexpected way, as Universal Pictures’ attempts at exploring a Dark Universe fell flat. In 2017, Russell Crowe starred as the figure in The Mummy, though the film’s underwhelming reception caused that approach to the franchise to stagnate indefinitely. There is currently no release date for Doctor Jekyll.
Doctor Jekyll follows the reclusive Nina Jekyll (Izzard) finding friendship with her newly hired help, Rob, played by emerging actor Scott Chambers (Chicken) who must work together to prevent Hyde from destroying her life.
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The new film is directed by Joe Stephenson from a script by a script by Dan Kelly-Mulhern. With dozens of takes on the concept coming to life over the years, Stephenson also shared what makes this approach different from its predecessors.
“There’ve been over 100 cinematic adaptations of [Robert Louis] Stevenson’s novella, but there has never been a trans Dr. Jekyll,” Stephenson shared with the outlet. “There seem to be some assumptions that because Nina is a trans character, we are somehow going to make it about gender. That is not the case; the themes of our film are true to the original work.”
He added, “I feel like certain demographics need help seeing past people’s gender identity. Nina Jekyll’s trans-ness isn’t everything she is, at all!”
Arguably one of the issues that The Mummy faced was in finding the right tone, as it was part action, part horror, part comedy, making for an overall disappointing adventure. Stephenson went on to detail the tone that the new film aimed to explore.
The director pointed out that “the film’s tone is a (hopefully) surprising mix of dark humor and suspense that spirals into horror. Even in its darkest moments we give a wink to films of a certain era, and flashes of camp within a dark twisted fairytale combine to make a tone I don’t see much of anymore… and wish I did!”
Stay tuned for details on Doctor Jekyll.
Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!
