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
“The American Spirit of Liberality and Freedom” Reaches Turkey
This note in the April 9, 1894, issue of the Duluth (MN) Evening Herald shared an opinion about how the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition promoted the spread of an “American spirit of liberality and freedom” internationally … and an example of falling short of that ideal within the Ottoman Empire. The Office of the Turkish Commissioners building, designed by Chicago architect J. A. Thain. stood behind the main [...]
Windmills Causing Illness at the 1893 World’s Fair?
The story below comes from the June 6, 1893, issue of the Chicago Times, but feels oddly relevant in light of recent, strange claims making news headlines. In the southeast corner of the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, two men overwhelmed by the great windmill exhibit encounter a sober Columbian guard who offers sage advice. When the World’s Congress on Temperance opened on June 5, many newspapers [...]
Libraries at the Columbian Exposition
“Extremes meet at Chicago.” —librarian Caroline Harwood Garland. The 1893 World’s Fair was full of contrasts: exotic dancing on the Midway and educational exhibits; fountains illuminated by electricity and bibles illuminated by paintings, dynamos and the Dewey decimal system; balloon rides and books. Amidst the Cracker Jack and orange cider was also “food for reflection in the existence of so many libraries.” To celebrate National Library Week, let’s take [...]
A Map of Libraries for the 1893 World’s Fair
At the 1893 World’s Fair, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts displayed “an ingenious map prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, showing at a glance which of the towns in the state have free public libraries and the number of volumes in each library at the beginning of 1893,” according to the March 1894 issue of The Library Journal. The "Free public libraries of Massachusetts" map by George [...]
May 5, 2019: 25th Annual World’s Fair Memorabilia Show (Elk Grove Village, IL)
The 25th Annual World's Fair Memorabilia Show will be held on Sunday, May 5, 2019, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Holiday Inn at 1000 Busse Road (Rt. 83 and Landmeier Rd.) in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Collectors and dealers will meet to buy, sell, and trade items related to World's Fairs from 1876 to the present. Although the main focus will be on the 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair, [...]
May 4, 2019: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)
The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on Saturday, May 4, 2019, from 9:45 am to 12:45 pm. Cycle back to 1893, pedal past sites related to the World’s Fair, and discover its lasting influence on Chicago. Along the way, tour guide Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike Chicago, will uncover Daniel Burnham’s grand plans and [...]
Fool of the Fair
We should expect to encounter a fool on April 1st, and visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition could have met a striking fool hanging in the Palace of Fine Arts. Thomas Shields Clarke's oil painting A Fool's Fool (1887) was on display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. [Image from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.] A Fool's Fool (1887) was a work by artist Thomas [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – East Lagoon by Moonlight (p. 77)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 77 – THE EAST LAGOON BY MOONLIGHT THE EAST LAGOON BY MOONLIGHT.— The night scenes at the Fair were undoubtedly the most beautiful for those who liked dreamy pictures, or half darkness contrasted with a blaze of glorious lights, better than unvarying white beauty. The fireworks, the illumination about the Court of Honor, the colored effects upon the Wooded [...]
From the Balcony of Henry Ives Cobb’s Fisheries Building
Detail from "From the Balcony of the Fisheries Building" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine May 1893. Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) contributed several buildings to the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but perhaps none so beautiful and intricately detailed as the great Fisheries Building. "In the Fisheries Building, a clever scheme of surface ornament has been composed from casts of [...]
April 26, 2019: 1893 Scavenger Hunt in the Chicago Loop
If you love learning about the history of the 1893 World’s Fair, are passionate about Chicago architecture, enjoy puzzles, and want to stretch your legs, then head to the Chicago Loop for “Glitz, Glamour…and Panic! A Hunt for the History of 1893 in Chicago.” Atlas Obscura Chicago Field Agent Patti Swanson is once again hosting her "Google-proof" scavenger hunt in the Chicago Loop on Friday, April 26, 2019. You [...]