A few months ago, we learned that Russell Crowe was in negotiations to join Universal’s The Mummy as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, eventually starring in his own solo movie within the Universal Monsters franchise as well. Now this week it appears that there is a competing project of sorts taking shape over at Lionsgate with the lead role being sought by none other than Captain America himself. Chris Evans is reportedly attached to star in Jekyll, an upcoming big screen adaptation of a 2007 BBC mini-series of the same name by Steven Moffat. The mini-series is described as a modern day sequel to the Robert Louis Stevenson novel and the plot synopsis is as follows:

“In the miniseries, James Nesbitt played 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 script for the movie was written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry (The Nice Guys, Doc Savage). No director is attached as of yet although Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman are on board as producers. Either way, this sounds like something a bit different for Chris Evans and it will be interesting to see if he can pull it off. Has anyone out there seen the BBC mini-series? Are you interested in yet another version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the big screen?