Dread Central (US), May 8, 2009

Keanu Reeves Heads to the Lab for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

by Heather Wixson

Well, Ted “Theodore” Logan is no stranger to the horror genre. He’s starred in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Devil’s Advocate, and Constantine (which are just a handful of genre titles).

Now, Keanu Reeves is about to test his abilities in performing dual personalities because THR reported tonight he’s set to take on the title role(s) in Universal’s remake of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.”

Look, I know that Reeves gets a lot of slack for his wooden performances but the guy can act when given something challenging to do. Don’t believe me? Go rewatch his performance as Donnie in The Gift and then tell me I am wrong.

I might be in the minority here but I am kinda psyched to see him do something a little more challenging than his latest outing in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I honestly don’t think it’s an accident that the guy has stayed busy for almost 25 years in the biz.

Justin Haythe (who penned the recent Oscar bait flick Revolutionary Road) wrote the script for Jekyll and Nicolas Winding Refn, who is responsible for the Pusher film series (which are pretty good if you haven’t seen them), is in negotiations to direct.



Article Focus:
Jekyll

Tagged:
Jekyll , Bram Stoker's Dracula , Devil's Advocate, The , Constantine , Gift, The , Day the Earth Stood Still, The



Comments

RuthieA reviewer who admits K can act? (2009-05-08 21:46:28)
 This is a rare commentary! Finally!! Perhaps this will start a new trend?
Anakin McFly		It happens (2009-05-08 23:45:06)

ADMIN 		...Now and then. 'Tis just a matter of rooting them out, and after a while many will, sadly, succumb to the bandwagon. :(

(Off-topically, I just watched The Gift. I found Keanu's performance kind of uneven at the start, but the courtroom scene was brilliant.)

Ruthieoff-topic continued (2009-05-09 03:47:57)
 His performace in The Gift was scarily good. The scene where he's pointing the gun at Buddy's head - you can see him wincing, conflicted - he wants Buddy to back down to him, he can't back down to Buddy, but doesn't want to shoot him either.... Wonderful performance.
Anakin McFly		I have a theory (2009-05-09 10:42:19)

ADMIN 		This commentary originated from a horror site, and I think most of Keanu's strongest performances were in the horror genre - The Gift, Devil's Advocate, Constantine...

Whereas if compared to, say, sci-fi, there's the Matrix trilogy, A Scanner Darkly, Johnny Mnemonic, Chain Reaction, generally a selection (ASD aside) where his acting got more panned by critics. Same for romance - Sweet November, Lake House, A Walk in the Clouds

And then among fans of strange indie films, again he gets more recognition, because in that genre he did things like MOPI, Thumbsucker, ASD (again), The Last Time I Committed Suicide, I Love You to Death, River's Edge (?), again his better performances.

So opinion of him seems to vary by the genre of his work the person is more familiar with. I am kind of fascinated by this.

Mayte (2009-05-11 06:15:30)
 Interesting! I always imagined Dr. Jekyll as an old guy.
LucaM		yay! (2009-05-12 21:32:33)
 if only this would come true!
it would be such a treat !

and it would be a tongue-in-cheek response to 'he's always acting the same character' ;)

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