Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's Devil In The White City finally makes some progress

Could it really, finally be the time for The Devil In The White City? The long-gestating project, based on Erik Larson’s book Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America, has seen many iterations over the last ten years. But according to Deadline, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese have found a new home for the story over at 20th Century. 

After toying with a version of Devil as a television show, the project is apparently a film again, with DiCaprio expected to star and Scorsese expected to direct. The outlet reports that “insiders say that following a meeting with 20th Century execs, all parties were on board to tell this story at the theatrical level.” There’s no script yet, but Deadline‘s sources say DiCaprio and Scorsese “always felt this was a story that has resonated throughout the years and still does.”

Larson’s 2003 nonfiction book weaves together the stories of Daniel H. Burnham, the architect behind the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and H.H. Holmes, the notorious serial killer. Burnham was responsible for the construction of the “White City” fairgrounds, while Holmes constructed his own “World’s Fair Hotel” (later sensationally known as the “Murder Castle”) that he supposedly used to lure in victims. 

According to GQ, it was Tom Cruise who first held the rights to adapt Larson’s book at Paramount with Kathryn Bigelow as the director. Paramount then re-acquired the rights in 2007 after Cruise’s option lapsed. When the Paramount version didn’t get made, DiCaprio bought the rights in 2010. By 2015, DiCaprio’s longtime collaborator Scorsese came on board as the potential director, with DiCaprio set to play Holmes. But in 2019, the project shifted to a television series at Hulu. In 2022, Keanu Reeves signed on to star in the miniseries, which would be directed by Todd Field (with DiCaprio and Scorsese producing). But both Field and Reeves exited the same year, and by 2023 Hulu had canceled the project. 

The term “development hell” was made for a project like Devil In The White City. It sure seems like a slam dunk with DiCaprio and Scorsese behind it, but it seemed that way in 2015, too! There’s still a long way to go before the film gets off the ground, and anything could happen in that time. We’ll see if the Devil ever makes it to the big screen.