Eddie Izzard will transform into a horror icon in Doctor Jekyll.
Revealed by Fangoria, the Doctor Jekyll poster (courtesy of Creepy Duck Design) sees Izzard become Dr. Nina Jekyll, a trans character based on the protagonist of the 1886 Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde novella by Robert Louis.
Doctor Jekyll is directed by Joe Stephenson, who also produced the film alongside Guy de Beaujeu and Liam Coutts. The script comes from Dan Kelly-Mulhern while Christian Angermayer serves as an executive producer. Along with Izzard, Doctor Jekyll stars Lindsay Duncan, Jonathan Hyde, and Simon Callow.
“There’ve been over 100 cinematic adaptations of Stevenson’s novella, but there has never been a trans Dr. Jekyll,” Stephenson told Fangoria. “ 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.”
Dr. Jekyll Through the Years: From John Barrymore to Russell Crowe
A myriad of actors have played Jekyll/Hyde over the years. One of the earliest was John Barrymore in a silent film adaptation of the novel. Other notable examples include Fredric March in a 1931 adaptation, Spencer Tracy in a 1941 adaptation, and Ralph Bates in Hammer Horror’s Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde from 1971.
Russell Crowe also played the character alongside Tom Cruise in 2017’s The Mummy. Crowe was originally supposed to reprise the role in additional installments within Universal’s Dark Universe; however, plans to make more Dark Universe movies featuring fan-favorite Universal monsters were canceled after The Mummy was a box office bomb.
Doctor Jekyll will premiere at FrightFest in Aug. 2023. The film does not yet have a wider release date.
