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
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Egyptian Swordsmen (p. 87)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 87 – EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN.— Among the attractions of a Street in Cairo were a number of swordsmen, some of them very expert in their profession. Their weapons were not of the style in use among Europeans and Americans, but resembled Japanese swords somewhat and had no guard above the hand grip. The blades were not, however, used [...]
Sept. 13-Nov. 4, 2019: DEADLY, a New Musical Set at the 1893 World’s Fair (Los Angeles)
A new musical set at the 1893 World’s Fair makes its world premiere at the Sacred Fools Theater Company of Los Angeles this fall. Deadly, written by Vanessa Claire Stewart, with music by Ryan Thomas Johnson, explores the chilling events of the “murder castle” operating near the grounds of the Columbian Exposition. The twin stories of the Fair and the serial killer, which were the subject of Erik Larson’s dramatic [...]
Oct. 21, 2019- May 2021: American Medina-Stories of Muslim Chicago (Chicago History Museum)
Some of the earliest Muslim communities in Chicago came for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and on the Midway Plaisance were several of the first mosques in the city. The Chicago History Museum opens a new exhibit “American Medina: Stories of Muslim Chicago” on October 21, 2019. CHM notes that “the intention of this exhibition is to record the diverse stories and life experiences of Muslim people living in [...]
Oct. 19-20, 2019: Open House Chicago Features 1893 World’s Fair Connections
Vestiges of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition can be found scattered around the globe … if you know where to look. Several sites related to the World’s Fair are included in the 2019 Open House Chicago, held on October 19-20, 2019: Decorators Supply Corp. (3610 S. Morgan St.) manufactured cast ornamental plaster that helped create the mouldings for the buildings of the "White City" at the 1893 World's Fair. St. [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Curious Grain Picture (p. 86)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 86 – THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE.—There were many fine exhibits in the big Illinois Building, many novel displays and a great showing of objects with what might be called an agricultural tendency, but the throng was always greatest at one particular point, that being immediately in front of what became known popularly as " The [...]
Oct. 13, 2019: The Vanishing City–Excavating the World’s Fair (Glessner House)
Glessner House is hosting a talk on "The Vanishing City: Excavating the World’s Fair of 1893" on Sunday, October 13, 2019, from 4-5 pm. Rebecca Graff, assistant professor of anthropology and chair of the American studies at Lake Forest College, divulges what is hiding beneath the future Obama Presidential Center site in Chicago. Professor Graff will discuss her archaeological and archival research focused on the Fair’s ephemeral “White City” [...]
First to the Fair
At the 1893 World’s Fair were displayed many “firsts,” including the largest enclosed space ever built, the first electric railway, and the first mechanical dishwasher. So what were the first exhibits to come to the Columbian Exposition? The two notices below, from the June 1891 and February 1892 issues of World’s Columbian Exposition Illustrated, reveal that Washington State and Japan sent the first American and first foreign exhibits to [...]
Days of Labor
Laborers working to landscape Jackson Park in 1891. In the rear left of the frame is the bridge connecting the Lagoon and the North Pond. It still stands today as the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge. [Image from World's Columbian Exposition Illustrated June 1891.]
Sean Masterson’s Magic from the Midway
A story about the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition weaves its was through a Chicago magic show. Sean Masterson’s Timeless Magic blends expert sleight-of-hand trickery, quirky humor, and a personal detective story centering around a World’s Fair commemorative coin. Masterson shares with his audience his quest to discover the origin of his coin, taking us on a tour of several magicians who worked on the Midway [...]
Frederick Law Olmsted and the Spark of Genius
The Wooded Island in the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On the anniversary of the death of Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903), we endeavor that the memory of his name and personality is not dimmed in the passage of years. This tribute to Olmsted’s design of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition comes from the May 3, 1893, issue of Garden [...]