Following a poster last year, the first photo has now been released via Fangoria of British stand-up comedian, actor and activist Suzy Eddie Izzard in the latest re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story “The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde”.
Joe Stephenson directs this new take on “Doctor Jekyll” which will see “Hannibal” and “Valkyrie” actor Izzard playing the reclusive Nina Jekyll, who finds friendship with her newly hired help Rob (Scott Chambers). The pair must soon work together to prevent Hyde from destroying Nina’s life.
Stephenson confirms to the outlet that Nina Jekyll is a trans woman in the film’s narrative and explains that whilst it’s part of the narrative, the story remains very much true to the themes of the original story and won’t be about gender politics:
“There have been over 100 cinematic adaptations of Stevenson’s novella, but there has never been a trans-Dr. Jekyll. 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. I feel like certain demographics need help seeing past people’s gender identity. Nina Jekyll’s trans-ness isn’t everything she is at all!”
Tone-wise, Stephenson calls it a “surprising mix of dark humor and suspense that spirals into horror”. There are winks to films of a certain era and “flashes of camp within a dark twisted fairytale”.
Lindsay Duncan, Jonathan Hyde, and Simon Callow also star in the film, which was penned by Dan Kelly-Mulhern and at present does not have a release date.
A first look, along with some intriguing thoughts by the film's director. https://t.co/FAwh1xdZxk
— FANGORIA (@FANGORIA) May 1, 2023
