Russell Crowe in Talks to Play Dr Jekyll in The Mummy - Report

Universal's upcoming classic monster movie universe is continuing to pull in some big names. Tom Cruise is currently filming The Mummy, and in February it was reported that Johnny Depp was being lined up for The Invisible Man. Now it has been reported that Russell Crowe could be joining the franchise.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crowe is in talks to appear with Cruise in The Mummy as the tormented Dr Jekyll. Although these discussions are for him to appear in this first film in the franchise, THR notes that Crowe might reprise the role in a future film of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The studio has previously considered Tom Hardy and Javier Bardem for the part.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Universal is planning a monster movie every year until at least 2019. The Mummy is set for release in June 2017, with two more as-yet-untitled films scheduled for April 2018 and February 2019.

Last month images of Cruise on the London set of The Mummy were leaked. Alex Kurtzman, co-writer of first two Star Trek movies in the current reboot series, is directing.

Kurtzman was hired by Universal in 2014 to develop the new interconnected franchise--other key monsters that are expected to be brought back include The Wolfman, Van Helsing, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein.

According to Variety, while Cruise isn't on board as a producer of The Mummy, he is expected to play a major role in the development of the series.