Los Angeles - Keanu Reeves is to star in a modern retelling of the classic novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, according to The Hollywood Reporter Monday.

The movie, titled Jekyll, will be written by Justin Haythe, writer of Revolutionary Road, while Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to direct.

Author Robert Louis Stevenson's tale - of a doctor who scientifically develops an evil self - has been translated to the screen and stage dozens of times. Its most modern iteration was in 2007, when the BBC aired a mini-series with the story set in the present as Hyde runs amok in London.

Reeves most recently starred in Fox's remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.