Keanu Reeves is feeling the pull of  Victorian horror once again as he signs on to star in an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This time, the Bram Stoker's Dracula actor will star in a modern take on the classic, simply titled Jekyll, and which is to be scripted by Revolutionary Road screenwriter Justin Haythe.

Not satisfied with having examined the mind of Britain's most notorious prisoner, Bronson director Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to take on the legendary two-sided protagonist. The project was just one of Universal's visions for the book, the other being developed for Guillermo Del Toro to helm. However, Keanu's modern reimagining will be the polar opposite of the fantastical Victorian version which could be set out for Del Toro after he is finished with The Hobbit.

Although producers are keeping plot details for the modern take close to their chests, the original Robert Louis Stevenson tale followed an experimenting doctor who, when trying to purge himself of all evil, accidentally creates a dark side for himself that he sets loose on London's seedy underworld. The most recent adaptation of the story by the BBC brought the split-personalitied one up to date in 2008 for a mini-series starring Dougray Scott.

Reeves is up next in retirement-relationship drama (yes, we know he's not old enough) The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee, and is rumoured to be taking the title role in gangland biopic Stompanato. Haythe, who also wrote Robert Redford's The Clearing, is currently working on a remake of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.