We figured as much, but Forest Whitaker has confirmed that he will not be taking part in Abel Ferrara’s modern take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Jekyll And Hyde” which was set to see him star along side Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson.
The actor first expressed concern about his place in project last October when he announced that a new script was being drafted and that it “would be very classic.”
“It’s a father-son kind of relationship,” he told MTV. “It’s also [an interesting script] because we are dealing with similar things. You know, this Jekyll has a lot of issues and problems personally, himself. Hidden passions, hidden perversions — and it’s acted out by 50.”
Unfortunately, Whitaker is now gone, and Ferrara is now at work on his Broadway debut “Short Eyes,” so we’re guessing if this project gets moving again, the cult director won’t be on board. This isn’t the only Ferrara project to lose the director in recent months. Last fall, Ferrara walked away from the B-grade action thriller “Game Of Death” starring Wesley Snipes, Zoe Bell (“Grindhouse”), Gary Daniels (“The Expendables”) and Robert Davi (“Die Hard”) in the midst of production. He was quickly replaced by Italian TV helmer Giorgio Serafini.
At one stage, there were three interesting iterations of the classic Stevenson tale being developed as films including this, the now defunct Nicolas Winding Refn take with Keanu Reeves and one from Guillermo Del Toro. It’s a classic story that’s ripe for a fresh, inventive take on the material but it looks like that won’t be coming anytime soon.
