LOS ANGELES, March 21 — One of the producers and writers on Birdman and The Revenant is being connected with an effort to bring Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde to the feature film format.
Based on the Bricusse and Cuden Broadway musical which itself built upon Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a new adaptation of the dramatic good versus evil horror story is being prepared for screen.
Alexander Dinelaris, a co-writer and producer on Alejandro Iñárritu’s award-winning Birdman and a producer on his next film The Revenant, is writing and producing Jekyll and Hyde.
Dinelaris shared a screenplay Oscar and Golden Globe for Birdman with Iñárritu and co-writers Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo, and so hopes are high that he will bring a similar level of craft and vision to the alter ego horror.
The 1994 musical’s co-creators Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn have lent their seal of approval to the project, saying “we are absolutely thrilled to see our musical version of Jekyll and Hyde becoming a major motion picture” as part of the project’s public announcement.
The show was a four-time Tony Award nominee, and, since having debuted with Robert Cuccioli in the main role, its high-profile Broadway leads have included Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow, Baywatch and Knight Rider actor David Hasselhoff, and American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis.
Matthew James Thomas, who played the title role in 2012’s Tony-winning revival of Pippin, is involved in a special March 21 New York performance of the musical put on by Wildhorn and Dinelaris. — AFP-Relaxnews
