Director Christopher Landon is a growing name in the horror genre after his success with Happy Death Day and now the highly-anticipated Freaky currently in theaters.
If he had his way, he knows exactly what horror movie he’d tackle next: a remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Specifically, he’d love to do a spin on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the vein of Blumhouse’s Invisible Man reimagining. While doing press for Freaky, he was asked by ET what classic horror property he’d reboot if he could and he was quick with his answer:
“Jekyll and Hyde. That’s the one I would love to do. Look, I mean, [director] Leigh Whannell already has the best one, and he made the best one. Invisible Man was just a total homerun. And I think he’s gonna do the same thing with Wolf Man, so he’s kind of got that corner. But I think Jekyll and Hyde would be a lot of fun, ’cause I think it’s just, as a concept, there’s a lot to mine there. And I think it’s genuinely scary, because we all kind of feel like we have monsters inside of us.”
Shoot your shot, Landon. Consider that him publicly throwing his hat into the ring for Blumhouse. And it’s likely he’ll get the job, too: Landon has been a mainstay in the Blumhouse family ever since penning the Paranormal Activity 2 script. With Blumhouse liking to work with trusted talent, you’d have to think Landon would be in the running for the job. If Blumhouse does indeed hit the greenlight on a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde movie, that is, which appears likely considering they’ve gone all-in on rebooting Universal’s classic monster movies as standalone, filmmaker-driven projects with A-list stars attached.
Whannell’s Invisible Man was the first of those and became a huge hit earlier this year, grossing almost $125 million worldwide on a $28 million budget. Whannell’s success with that landed him the directing gig for the Ryan Gosling-led Wolf Man. But Whannell isn’t the only director working on Universal monster movies. Two different Dracula-based movies are in the works with Destroyer director Karyn Kusama developing a Dracula movie and Rocketman‘s Dexter Fletcher working on a movie about Renfield, Dracula’s minion. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Banks is working on The Invisible Woman based on an original pitch by her, and Paul Feig is slowly assembling the pieces for a Dark Army movie. Blumhouse has clearly shown itself open to projects it might not have been currently considering if they get a great pitch. If Landon wants to do a Jekyll and Hyde movie, he almost certainly can land the gig if he comes to Jason Blum & co. with a great idea for a story. With Landon’s bent for mixing horror with dark comedy, his vision of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson cautionary tale could be a lot of fun.
Freaky is in theaters now. Get Freaky tickets here.
