For the past 15 years, Russell Crowe has been one of Hollywood’s steadiest A-listers but in a franchise-heavy movie business, he has somehow missed out on that particular gravy train. According to ScreenCrush, however, he may jump on board yet, albeit in a somewhat unlikely fashion.
The actor is reportedly in talks to play Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in Tom Cruise’s upcoming Mummy reboot. No, we didn’t get our headlines crossed, it appears that Universal is setting up a Marvel-style monster movie universe and that Crowe could even play the good/bad doctor in several different films. While no one has signed on the dotted line just yet, there is mutual interest after talks fell through with both Tom Hardy and Javier Bardem.
Dracula, Wolfman, and Frankenstein projects are reportedly also in the works but it’s unclear at this point how the films will connect. After so many big-screen flops, it would certainly be nice to see a bit of life injected into Mary Shelley’s monster, but we’ll have to wait and see if Universal can pull this ambitious project off.
In the meantime, Alex Kurtzman is helming the Mummy reboot, which is currently filming in London with a cast that includes Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Jake Johnson (New Girl), and, of course, Tom Cruise. It’s not clear exactly how Crowe’s character(s) come into play in this film and whether he would portray the benevolent Dr. Jekyll only, the maniacal Mr. Hyde only, or both of them. Either way, he would certainly be an intriguing addition to the cast.
The Mummy is currently scheduled for a June 9, 2017, release and is a reboot of the late ‘90s/early 2000s franchise that starred Brendan Fraser.
