When Martin Scorsese is passionate about getting a movie made, he can exhibit saint-like patience. For example, it took the filmmaker nearly 30 years to make his religious drama Silence, but he never gave up on his vision, and he finally got to make it back in 2016. Another project that has taken a similar trek through development hell is his planned adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2004 book Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America – and while that idea seemed like it was dead for a long time, it has now been resurrected.
Deadline is reporting that the long-gestating film has found a new home, as 20th Century is now set to make it, and Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are both in active talks. The movie will tell the horrifying true story of Dr. HH Holmes, a con man and serial killer who confessed to killing 27 people amid a litany of other crimes in Chicago in the late 19th century.
Development of Devil In The White City dates back to 2010, which was when Leonardo DiCaprio first became involved as a producer, having purchased the rights to Erik Larson’s book. Five years later, it appeared as though the project was going to reunite the actor with Martin Scorsese following their acclaimed collaboration on 2013’s The Wolf Of Wall Street, and work continued in the years that followed… but then there was a major pivot in 2019 when plans for a movie became plans for a TV series.
There was talk a few years ago about Keanu Reeves potentially taking over the role of HH Holmes from Leonardo DiCaprio when Devil In The White City was being looked at for the small screen, but that idea fell apart in just 10 months.
Despite the fact that there has been 15 years of development, the new serial killer thriller does not currently have a script. Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese most recently collaborated on Killers Of The Flower Moon, which was regarded as one of the best films of 2023. Should Devil In The White City get off the ground before Roosevelt and The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder (two other long-in-development projects that the men have been working on), the film would be the eighth feature that the director and actor have made together.
In the more immediate future, audiences will likely next get to see Leonardo DiCaprio on the big screen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s next movie, which doesn’t have a title but has carved out a date on the 2025 movie release schedule (specifically August 8). And if you wish to watch the actor’s most recent epic collaboration with one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon is available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription.
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