©Courtesy of Killer of the Flower Moon

20th Century Studios is set to produce The Devil in the White City, a film based on the best-selling book by Erik Larson. As first reported by Deadline, the film will star Leonardo DiCaprio and will be directed by Martin Scorsese.

First published in 2004, Larson’s nonfiction crime drama is subtitled Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. The book narrates the interwoven stories of architect Daniel Burnham and of the notorious Dr H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who is believed to have murdered scores of people during the celebrated Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.

Scorsese and DiCaprio had earlier collaborated in several other acclaimed movies, including The Aviator, The Departed, Gangs of New York, Killers of the Flower Moon, Shutter Island, and the Wolf of Wall Street.

 

The Devil in the White City, presently without a script, will be produced by DiCaprio and Scorsese in tandem with Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn, and Jennifer Davisson. The upcoming adaptation of Larson’s book is another coup for David Greenbaum, who heads Disney Live Action, and Steve Abell, president of 20th Century Studios, both of whom have recently announced two other high-profile projects: Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White, and The Barrier, starring Austin Butler under the direction of Edward Berger.

Kathryn Bigelow and Paula Wagner had been under consideration to direct earlier iterations of the film, with Tom Cruise reportedly a candidate for the starring role. In 2019, Hulu was working with Todd Field on directing a series that would have starred Keanu Reeves, but dropped the project two years ago.

The DiCaprio-Scorsese film would not be the first adaptation of Larson’s book. In 2007, National Geographic aired a documentary entitled Madness in the White City. In 2011, Ann Reinking, Bruce Wolosoff, and Melissa Thodos collaborated on  a ballet, The Devil  in the White City, for Thodos Dance Chiacgo.

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