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
May 7, 2024: DREAM CITY musical (Chicago)
A new musical about the 1893 World’s Fair takes the stage at Theater Wit in Chicago for one night only. Dream City, with book and lyrics by June Finfer and music by Elizabeth Doyle, will be offered as a staged reading on May 7, 2024, at 7:30 PM. Finfer and Doyle’s musical is a revision of Burnham’s Dream: The White City, staged in 2018. This new version featured five [...]
Greetings from a Transportation Angel
We were delighted to hear from several readers about the lovely images featured in our recent post “Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building” We’ve made the image available on greeting cards (single, pack of 10, and pack of 20) and a few other items through our Café Press shop at https://www.cafepress.com/worldsfairchicago1893. We greatly enjoy sharing what we learn about the 1893 World’s Fair [...]
Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building
Critics glorified and reviled Louis Sullivan’s renegade design for the Transportation Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. The polychromatic color scheme and the grand Golden Door received the most commentary at the time of the Columbian Exposition, and both elements continue to fascinate students of architecture today. Louis Sullivan’s striking design for the Transportation Building featured a polychromatic façade and majestic “Golden Door” entrance on the east side. [...]
“Sick of the picturesque”: Hamlin Garland oversells the 1893 World’s Fair
Note: Hamlin Garland will be inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, from 5:30—8 pm at the Chicago History Museum. Further information about Hamlin Garland can be found at the Hamlin Garland Society website https://www.garlandsociety.org/ “Sell the cook stove if necessary and come. You must see this fair.” This oft-repeated quote, brimming with enthusiasm and promise for the 1893 World’s [...]
25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination [...]
Seeing the Solar Eclipse of 1893 at the World’s Fair
Did you see it? Viewers on April 8, 2024, snapped countless millions of photographs of the solar eclipse. For the total solar eclipse of April 16, 1893—visible in South America and Africa—only a handful of photographs were taken. At least one made it into a display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. A photograph of the April 1893 solar eclipse, exhibited in the California State Building [...]
163. Picturesque World’s Fair – The German Porcelain Display
THE GERMAN PORCELAIN DISPLAY.—What proved one of the greatest attractions to art lovers who visited the German section in the Manufactures Building was the wonderful porcelain display. No collection of just the same character and quality had ever before been seen in the United States, nor, indeed, elsewhere, and a delighted throng was constantly examining this portion of Germany's fine exhibit. The illustration affords a good idea of the [...]
The Ninth Wonder of the World: Turning Day into Night at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
“However grand, complete and astonishing the World's Fair may appear to the public by daylight, it is at night that it can be seen in all its splendor and magnificence,” wrote the World’s Columbian Exposition Illustrated [read the article here]. Another description of the nightly illumination of the Court of Honor comes from the newspaper story reprinted below, originally from an (unknown) Chicago newspaper. Turning Day into Night “After [...]
In All Its Splendor and Magnificence: The World’s Fair at Night
The illumination of the White City evoked awe and wonder among visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Nothing earthly can ever exceed this; man has reached high, higher, his fingers have almost touched the bars of heaven,” wrote Mrs. D. C. Taylor in her memoir Halcyon Days in the Dream City. [Read the full work here.] Reprinted below is a description of the fairgrounds at night published in [...]
“A character of its own”: The Chicago Public Library of 1893
Celebrate libraries! April 3 is National Library Giving Day and April 6 is National Library Day. Consider making a donation to the Chicago Public Library or another of your choice. Dr. Emil G. Hirsch, President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library, spoke with pride about his institution at the 1893 World’s Fair. He addressed the Congress of Librarians—which merged with the annual meeting of the [...]