MUMBAI: Universal Pictures is developing The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde with Justin Haythe penning the script. In all probability, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn would direct the project titled Jekyll in which Keanu Reeves will play the lead role.

Reeves is currently in the process of developing a split personality for the character he will portray.

Robert Louis Stevenson‘s novella has been translated to the screen and stage dozens of times. Among the adaptations are comedy versions, kids‘ stories (Jekyll And Heidi) and gender-switch tales.

The story has undergone modern iterations as recently as 2007 when the BBC aired a miniseries that set the story in the present as Hyde ran amok in London.

Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro who has an affinity for Gothic horror as well as creature features, aims to stick more closely to the Stevenson tale. His project is on the back burner, though, as he works on The Hobbit for New Line and MGM, a project that‘s expected to take up the next five years.

Refn‘s indie crime biopic Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival.