With The Mummy’s release less than a month away, Universal released a featurette that gives us better look at Russell Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
To plant the seeds for Univeral’s monster universe, The Mummy needs to focus on more than just Tom Cruise and his feud against Sofia Boutella’s mummy. They also need to lead into other films that have been put into works. These films include the Invisible Man, reportedly starring Johnny Depp — though, whether this still holds remains to be seen, and yes, that pun was intended — the Bride of Frankenstein, and of course, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Now, that last one has already gotten started. Russell Crowe plays the half-doctor/half-menace in the upcoming The Mummy film. And in the new featurette below, we’ll see just how his character comes into play in the movie.
Check it out:
Basically, Dr. Jekyll uses the Natural History Museum as the hub for Prodigium. This organization dedicates itself to fighting monsters, presumably Mr. Hyde included. (That will likely be the premise of his own film.)
Further, Crowe also explained:
"“There’s a lot to find out about Jekyll. It’s not giving too much away to say that he has quite the clear understanding of evil.”"
The featurette also mentions that Dr. Jekyll’s research is founded in science and puts him in the perfect position to come into contact with each monster we’re bound to see as Universal’s monster universe grows and takes shape.
Just for the sake of comparison, it sounds like he’ll be the Iron Man of the franchise. Of course, I imagine that role would be for Tom Cruise, but I guess we’ll have to see how this cinematic universe fleshes itself out. Maybe Tom Cruise is Iron Man and Russell Crowe’s more like Nick Fury.
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The Mummy walks slowly into theaters dressed in toilet paper on June 9.