At first (and even second and third) glance it looks like the kind of story accidentally left out of the April Fools Day news cycle. But there it is, straight from the opium den that is Universal: Keanu Reeves is attached as the lead in Jekyll, a revisionist retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and his evil alter ego Mr. Hyde. And really, that's not even the insane part.
THR also reports that Uni has enlisted Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn to direct a script by Justin Haythe, the wunderkind who so painstakingly butchered Revolutionary Road into its own sort of postmodern horror riff. Refn, meanwhile, is among the most noncommercial, confrontational directors of his own young generation; his extraordinary Pusher trilogy made unusual heroes out of three notorious Copenhagen drug barons. (They barely found a release in the States.) His English-language debut, Fear X, was reviled by critics, and his latest film, the stylishly megaviolent prison spectacle Bronson, premiered to stunned silence at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
He's the nicest guy in the world, but the physical commitments and the torment on the faces of all his actors aren't what you might classify as Keanu bait (let alone studio bait). That said, maybe Refn himself is looking for something a little less grueling. Because seriously, does Reeves even need Refn around for this? When he's the doctor, he'll be all dressed up and utter such finely wrought Haythe dialogue as, "I say, sir. Whoa," When he's Hyde, he'll look all disheveled and scary, and go, "GRaaagrll!!! WHOA!" This kind of stuff directs itself.
ยท Keanu Reeves in for new Jekyll [THR]