Trailer
Plot summary
Mary Reilly arrives at the house of Dr. Henry Jekyll to serve as a maid. She and the doctor develop a rapport, and he begins to ask for her help, which the butler, Poole, dislikes. Jekyll is curious about the scars on Mary's hand and neck, and she is reluctant before she lets him examine them. They come from a childhood incident in which her abusive father shut her in a cupboard that held live rats. The household staff notice the doctor working at strange hours, and he announces that a new assistant, Edward Hyde, will have the run of the house.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mary Reilly (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tim Burton planned to begin filming in January 1994 with Winona Ryder in the lead role after finishing Ed Wood, but he dropped out in May 1993 over his anger at Guber for putting Ed Wood in turnaround.
- The script went through as many as 25 drafts, and Stephen Frears shot three different potential endings; he wanted an ambiguous one, but after the studio and test audiences found it too downbeat, TriStar hired a different editor and, when reactions still did not improve, reverted to Frears' original cut.
- TriStar's first choices for the two leads were Daniel Day-Lewis for the role of Dr. Jekyll and Uma Thurman for the role of Mary Reilly.
