US TV
Cult Spy: The Changing Faces of Dr Jekyll
Published Sunday, Jun 17 2007, 08:00 BST | By Tony Delgado
First published way back in 1886, Robert Louis Stephenson’s novella ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ has been a regular source of inspiration on small and big screen alike. With James Nesbitt taking on the dual role in a new BBC adaptation of the classic story, Cult Spy looks at some of the recent attempts to update and translate the classic story into a hit …
A modern day reworking of the narrative is currently being used in Steven Moffat’s BBC version, which features Nesbitt as a descendant of the key character. Various treatments of the story have previously been released, some emphasising the horror elements, others the psychological. It’s even made a somewhat patchy transition to the comedy genre.
Last year Candyman legend Tony Todd took on the pivotal role in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which also updates the story into a contemporary setting. Jekyll is now a laboratory assistant working to find a cure for heart disease, but it’s all really an excuse for some ‘stalk and slash’ style generic horror scenes and a stock villain to go on the rampage. Unsurprisingly, it sunk without a trace at the US box office.
One particularly notable big screen adaptation (for there have been many) occurred in 1996 when Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears attempted to tell the story from the maid’s perspective in Mary Reilly. A valiant effort to tell the well-known story from a new perspective, the production was besieged by problems long before it limped onto the cinema screens. Casting John Malkovich in as Jekyll and Hyde appeared to be a masterstroke, but the decision to feature Julia Roberts, playing against type as the dowdy maid, was greeted with howls of derision. Despite the curious presence in the case of British icons George ‘Arthur Daley’ Cole and Kathy ‘Nora Batty’ Staff, it was a major cinematic disaster.
A curious comedy spin was put upon the tale in 1996’s Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde, with the dastardly alter ego now being a woman played by Sean Young. How the suffragettes would have rejoiced! As for the measly cinema audiences, this film was no laughing matter.
A decidedly bizarre crossover was attempted in 1989’s Edge of Sanity, which incorporated Jack The Ripper as the other half of Dr Jekyll’s psyche. Symptomatic of its times, the 80s were known as the decade of excess, cocaine is the substance that prompts the hideous transformation. Who better to terrorise the London whorehouse than Norman Bates from Psycho - alias actor Anthony Perkins?
As we’ve seen, the reinventions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famed novella have been somewhat chequered. Over the next six weeks we’ll discover whether the BBC have managed to nail their latest adaptation…
A modern day reworking of the narrative is currently being used in Steven Moffat’s BBC version, which features Nesbitt as a descendant of the key character. Various treatments of the story have previously been released, some emphasising the horror elements, others the psychological. It’s even made a somewhat patchy transition to the comedy genre.
Last year Candyman legend Tony Todd took on the pivotal role in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which also updates the story into a contemporary setting. Jekyll is now a laboratory assistant working to find a cure for heart disease, but it’s all really an excuse for some ‘stalk and slash’ style generic horror scenes and a stock villain to go on the rampage. Unsurprisingly, it sunk without a trace at the US box office.
One particularly notable big screen adaptation (for there have been many) occurred in 1996 when Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears attempted to tell the story from the maid’s perspective in Mary Reilly. A valiant effort to tell the well-known story from a new perspective, the production was besieged by problems long before it limped onto the cinema screens. Casting John Malkovich in as Jekyll and Hyde appeared to be a masterstroke, but the decision to feature Julia Roberts, playing against type as the dowdy maid, was greeted with howls of derision. Despite the curious presence in the case of British icons George ‘Arthur Daley’ Cole and Kathy ‘Nora Batty’ Staff, it was a major cinematic disaster.
A curious comedy spin was put upon the tale in 1996’s Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde, with the dastardly alter ego now being a woman played by Sean Young. How the suffragettes would have rejoiced! As for the measly cinema audiences, this film was no laughing matter.
A decidedly bizarre crossover was attempted in 1989’s Edge of Sanity, which incorporated Jack The Ripper as the other half of Dr Jekyll’s psyche. Symptomatic of its times, the 80s were known as the decade of excess, cocaine is the substance that prompts the hideous transformation. Who better to terrorise the London whorehouse than Norman Bates from Psycho - alias actor Anthony Perkins?
As we’ve seen, the reinventions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famed novella have been somewhat chequered. Over the next six weeks we’ll discover whether the BBC have managed to nail their latest adaptation…
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