Scorsese-DiCaprio’s “Devil in the White City” Lives

The long and winding road to adapt Erik Larson’s 2004 work “The Devil in the White City” took another turn today as 20th Century Studios has come on board the feature project with Martin Scorsese in talks to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to star.

The film has been in development across various studios for over a decade, with both DiCaprio and Scorsese attached at different times before, as well as talent like Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Jeremy Allen White and filmmakers like David Fincher and Todd Field.

Prior to this, the project was being developed as a limited Hulu series which was ordered in 2022, and then reportedly dropped in 2023. There is no script for this new incarnation as yet, but a meeting with 20th Century executives and talent led to all parties being determined to tell this story via a theatrical release feature.

Set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, “The Devil in the White City” tells the intertwining stories of fair architect Daniel H. Burnham and serial killer Dr. Henry H. Holmes, a charming sociopath who used a hotel he built near the fairgrounds to lure victims.

Complete with secret passages, a gas chamber and a crematorium, Holmes would murder his victims and strip their skeletons to sell for medical and scientific study. Holmes killed at least twenty-seven people, mostly young women, though some say the number was closer to nearly two hundred.

The story juxtaposes Holmes’ dark actions with the hopeful expectations and wonders presented at the World’s Fair. Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn and Jennifer Davisson will all produce “The Devil in the White City” film.

Source: Deadline

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