THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
plans for a screen adaptation
of Erik Larson’s book
Latest News
January 22, 2025: 20th Century Studios picks up The Devil in the White City as a feature film.
March 6, 2023: Hulu dropped plans to produce The Devil in the White City TV miniseries.
August 29, 2022: “According to a recent listing in Production Weekly, the series is reportedly scheduled to begin filming in March 2023 and will be filmed entirely in Chicago. Exact filming dates and locations have yet to be disclosed at this time.” [ReelChicago.com]
Development of Devil in the White City
A film adaptation of The Devil in the White City was first developed by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner through their Cruise/Wagner company, but the option lapsed in 2004. Paramount acquired the film rights in 2007 and set it up with producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher. Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights to The Devil in the White City in 2010 and began developing it as a feature film for Paramount studios to be directed by Martin Scorsese with DiCaprio was set to star in the leading role of the killer Holmes.
In 2019, the project changed to a big-budget miniseries for the streaming service Hulu. The series is being produced by Paramount TV Studios, ABC Signature, and Appian Way. Hulu canceled their plans in March 2023, but ABC Signature remains committed to the drama and will be shopping the show to new outlets.
Credits
Cast
Keanu Reeves as Daniel Burnham(confirmed 8/4/2022) (exited 10/7/2022)- Matt Damon?
- Robert Pattison?
Producers
- Sam Shaw (show runner)
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Martin Scorsese
- Keanu Reeves
- Jennifer Davisson
- Rick Yorn
- Stacey Sher
- Lila Byock
Todd Field(exited 10/10/2022)- Mark Lafferty
- ? Emma Koskoff
Writers
Directors
Todd Field reportedly will direct the first two episodes. (out 10/10/2022)
More Information
Internet Movie Database (IMDB) page for the miniseries The Devil in the White City
Posts about Erik Larson’s 2003 book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Oct. 14, 2026: “Revolution in the White City: How the Fourth of July was Celebrated at the 1893 World’s Fair” (online)
The Glessner House in Chicago will host an online program "Revolution in the White City: How the Fourth of July was Celebrated at the 1893 World's Fair" on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 7 pm CDT. The presentation will be given by Scott Cummings, an independent researcher who publishes worldsfairchicago1893.com. Independence Day at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago was remembered as “the greatest Fourth of July celebration in [...]
Sep. 6, 2026–Jan. 3, 2027: Art Institute of Chicago exhibits the ghost of Mary Cassatt’s lost mural from the 1893 World’s Fair
Few works of art exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair have generated as much scholarly interest, controversy, and speculation as Mary Cassatt’s lost mural Modern Woman. The Art Institute of Chicago centers the absent painting inside the new exhibition, Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism. The only known surviving color image of Mary Cassatt’s monumental mural Modern Woman is a reproduction in William Walton’s Art and Architecture of the World’s [...]
A New Yorker’s Feeling of Indignation
Ashbel R. Elliott (1850–1937) founded A. R. Elliott Advertising, one of New York’s first ad agencies, in 1890. After visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, he submitted a letter to the Chicago Inter Ocean on July 20, writing: "I have just returned from four weeks at the World's Fair. Like everyone else whose eyes have beheld its beauty I am enthusiastic. It is a cause for chagrin to be [...]
Humanizing New Yorkers at the Columbian Exposition
Charles Lederer created editorial cartoons and humorous illustrations for the Chicago Herald during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. He flings some ink at the longstanding feud between Chicago and New York in this proto-comic strip that appeared on the front page of the July 16, 1893, issue. “The Humanizing Effects on a New Yorker—of Eight Hours at the World’s Fair” depicts a Gothamite transitioning from “apprehension” to “exultation,” as [...]
Signals in the Sky Above the White City
On the roof of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building of the 1893 World’s Fair were erected several of the most powerful search lights in the world at the time. While usually busy illuminating the fairgrounds each evening, the light rays occasionally were pointed toward distant locales. Historian Rossiter Johnson recorded that “the beam was seen at Milwaukee, eighty-five miles distant, on July 15, 1893, and at Antioch, Ill., [...]
In Praise of the Wondering Crowds at the Columbian Exposition
Abby Frances Hamlin Abbott (1837–1907) was the daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, the 15th Vice President of the United States (1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln’s first term), and the wife of Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook. In her “Just Among Ourselves” column in the December 1893 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, Mrs. Lyman Abbott extols the comportment and curiosity of Columbian Exposition crowds: Nothing [...]
Aug. 25, 2026: “What Survives: Exploring the History of Jackson Park” (Chicago)
On August 25, 2026, the Hyde Park Historical Society will host a presentation by researcher and historian Patricia Morse on “What Survives: Exploring the History of Jackson Park.” Attendees will learn the history of Jackson Park and find out what can still be seen from its past. The talk is free and open to the public and begins at 7 PM at the Hyde Park Historical Society (5529 South Lake [...]
187. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Vermont Building
THE VERMONT BUILDING.—The building of the State of Vermont was quite unlike any other State Building and, for that matter, quite unlike anything else anywhere. It contained no exhibits but was a sufficient exhibit in itself. It was in the style of architecture made familiar by the excavations at Pompeii. Passing beneath a decorated portal, the visitor entered a paved courtyard, in the center of which was a fountain [...]
186. Picturesque World’s Fair – From the Balcony of the Woman’s Building
FROM THE BALCONY OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING.—The view afforded from the balcony of the Woman's Building might have been enjoyed by thousands more than was really the case had the broad floor of that balcony been well supplied with seats. For some reason, however, this was not the case, and the many, who in the shade the building afforded in the afternoon might have sat at ease enjoying the [...]
Fourth at the Fair, Part 18: 330,542 People Celebrate
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.