The Devil in the White City: An Epic Saga That Won't Be Easily Contained
Remember that whole The Devil In The White City thing? The book about the World's Fair in Chicago? Yep! Well, it’s got a bit of a history, which some might call "development hell," where a whole lot of time goes by, and you start to think you'll never get to see it happen! And, get this, this big project was going to be made with Scorsese directing, Leonardo DiCaprio starring… Talk about an A-list power combo.
You probably already know the story: A mind-boggling exhibition about building a magnificent World's Fair, and H.H. Holmes, who used the fair as his personal playground to build a killer-ific hotel. If you haven't checked out the book, it's actually super well-written by Erik Larson – seriously good stuff. And DiCaprio jumped onboard way back in 2010, thinking, "Hey, this is the perfect story to adapt." Yeah, except then things started going all "slow-motion, Hollywood production" - so you could basically just forget it!
Scorsese, DiCaprio, and The Devil in the White City: A Movie to Movie, Maybe?
What happened next? It was announced! Keanu Reeves was going to play the role, and Todd Field was going to direct the first two episodes. But then things took a major u-turn and Keanu and Todd left. Then, to make things even more confusing, Hulu (who was going to air the show as a limited series) decided to give the project the big "cancel" thumbs down.
But wait, we are not done yet! It gets even weirder. Despite Hulu’s cancellation, the producer, Stacy Sher, basically said they are still pushing forward and they are going to make this thing! The question remains – what the heck is the plan, and who will take over now?
From Development Hell to Potential Production – Maybe It'll Happen!
The story really has some great dramatic elements, a glimpse into Chicago's fascinating past, and the fact that this super intense and interesting tale had those A-list talents attached to it (and now potentially some more coming back!) gives people hope. There’s definitely a lot to like about the entire project! It's basically like when everyone gives a project the “it'll never happen” label – well, maybe just maybe. So, who's gonna play H.H. Holmes? Is it a TV show, or a movie? Who's got the directing job? We’re still in the waiting game!
Remember when DiCaprio went after “The Wolf of Wall Street?” Well, now we’ve got a whole new set of questions – because you know this will get serious – maybe more of an “intense, Scorsese thriller" with a twist of that famous "dark, compelling” acting that Leonardo does best!
Wait For The Devil… It's Probably Coming Back!
You can't blame fans for wondering if this is another movie-that-might-not-happen. We know that Scorsese and DiCaprio have been working on their separate projects lately, but they are big names in film – which means there’s some serious weight and importance given to those "I'll do it whenever I'm ready” moments, even for super stars! It would take some big movie-making magic for a project like this to get totally lost and cancelled, because it has so many incredible elements that have drawn everyone's interest since the book hit the shelves!
I mean, the fact that a new producer has come out saying, “Hey, we're going to try and do this again!" Gives hope for a production. Hopefully, the new crew will jump on this and actually pull off a great thing. There are enough elements in "The Devil In The White City" for this story to get made a few different ways!
