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
Chicago Food Hall Serves an 1893 World’s Fair Theme
Hayden Hall (333 S. Wabash Street) in Chicago features the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in both name and interior design.
Updates on Plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition emerged from an idea to a White City on the lake in a little more than three years. Building the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) along one edge of Jackson Park certainly will take much longer—if it materializes in that location at all. “The Obama Foundation first announced its site in Jackson Park back in 2016 and hoped to break ground in late 2018 after [...]
“Haunts of the White City” Offers a Few World’s Fair Ghost Stories
Haunts of the White City: Ghost Stories From the World's Fair, the Great Fire, and Victorian Chicago by Ursula Bielski. History Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781467139656. Softcover, 272 pages. $21.99. Even those of us who don’t believe in ghosts can enjoy a good ghost story. And Chicago is full of them. Ursula Bielski collects many of the more famous spectral tales, and few lesser-known phantoms, in Haunts of the White [...]
Utah Women Raise Money for the 1893 World’s Fair
A new podcast highlights the work of Margaret Salisbury and women in Utah, who raised funds for their state displays in the Woman’s Building and in the Utah Building of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Zion’s Suffragists podcast from the Deseret News explores how Utah pioneered voting rights for women in the United States. Episode 3, “Woman will be restored,” features Salisbury, who served on the [...]
Vienna Beef History Museum Closes
UPDATE (1/26/2020): The Vienna Beef History Museum will be closing on February 1, 2020, with no plans for reopening, according to reporting by Block Club Chicago. _______________________________________________________________________________________ We have not yet reached the dog days of summer, but Chicago is already celebrating its most famous dog, with the opening of the Vienna Beef History Museum. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition launched the careers of many now-famous food items, including [...]
93. Picturesque World’s Fair – Southwest from the Government Building
SOUTHWEST, FROM THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING—The view southwest from the roof of the United States Government Building embraced a great number of attractive objects. The east lagoon and more than half the Wooded Island appeared conspicuously in the foreground, and there was no elevated place in the grounds from which the island and lagoon could be seen together that did not command a sight worth seeing, for any lover of [...]
World’s Columbian Exposition Rat Traps
Although little has been written about them, rats must have been present on the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Rats also contributed to a unique Columbian Exposition product. The excerpt below, from “Traps Suited to the Rat’s Taste” published in the November 4, 1894, issue of the Philadelphia Times, describes commercial rat traps having themes related to the Midway Plaisance: It seems like rats are like persons. [...]
“Chicago’s Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934” Explores the Windy City’s Raucous Roots
Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934 by Jim Edwards. Arcadia Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 9781467103701. Softcover, 128 pages. $21.99. Partying ruled in the years between Chicago’s two World's Fairs, writes historian Jim Edwards in his introduction to Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934. The collection of 169 annotated images form a loose theme around the titular “lollapalooza” (a ball in the notorious First Ward, not a modern music festival). Edwards curates a visual review [...]
1893 World’s Fair Safe Bank Featured on “Antiques Roadshow”
Antiques Roadshow on PBS featured a rare 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition safe bank on their show “Meadow Brook Hall, Hour 2” (Season 23 Episode 2; aired January 14, 2019) shot in Rochester, Michigan. The nickel-plated cast iron “still bank” (not a mechanical bank) with combination lock features the northern hemisphere on top with copper inlays portraits depicting Christopher Columbus, U.S. President Grover Cleveland, and World’s Columbian Exposition President Thomas [...]
92. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Javanese at Home
THE JAVANESE AT HOME.— In their home life the Javanese are said to be a simple and happy people, and this will be readily believed of them by those who were in the Javanese Village at the Fair frequently enough to note the home demeanor of its occupants. They were most interesting, these gentle Javanese, and, in certain ways and habits and views of life, quite unlike any other [...]