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
Dec. 8: 125th Anniversary Celebration at the Art Institute of Chicago
December 8 is a full day for Columbian Exposition enthusiasts in Chicago! If you don’t already plan to attend the World’s Fair symposium at the Newberry Library or the talk on the White City at the Bezazian Library, you can check out the 125th anniversary celebration at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). To celebrate their anniversary, the AIC invites everyone to join in a recreation of this 1893 [...]
Columbian Coin Collectors
Ginger Rapsus's article "Key year for coin collectors is 1893" in Numismatic News (posted November 17, 2018) states that among the many souvenirs produced for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, "perhaps the best known of the souvenirs are two of the first classic commemorative coins." About the Columbian half dollar, Rapsus writes that "a good number of these coins did not sell and eventually were melted or entered circulation, sometimes turning up [...]
Dec. 8, 2018: The White City and the Building of the Fair at Bezazian Library (Chicago)
Chicago historian and tour guide Al Walavich will present a talk on “The World's Columbian Exposition: The White City and the Building of the Fair” at the Bezazian Library (1226 W Ainslie St. in Chicago) at 10 AM on December 8, 2018. Walavich will explore how the White City came to be during this social and political history talk in recognition of the 125th anniversary of the World's Columbian exposition.
Happy Turkey Day to our readers!
We wish you and yours a joyous Thanksgiving! We give thanks for the wonderful friends and Columbian Exposition enthusiasts whom we have met through worldsfairchicago1893.com this past year and look forward to continued exploration of the fairgrounds with you in the coming months. Speaking of turkey ... our monthly newsletter puzzle for November asked readers: Which of the Great Buildings in the White City featured a ring of ornamental [...]
November 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The November 2018 Trivia Question Which of the Great Buildings in the White City featured a ring of ornamental turkey sculptures on its roof? A. the Transportation Building B. the Agricultural Building C. the U.S. Government Building D. the [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The New York Building (p. 69)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 69 – THE NEW YORK BUILDING THE NEW YORK BUILDING.—Ranking nearly with that of Illinois, the New York Building was probably first in point of originality of light design and unique attractiveness of interior. It occupied a space two hundred and fourteen feet in length by one hundred and forty-two in depth, and was not quite one hundred feet [...]
Dec. 8, 2018: “Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” Symposium at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, December 8, 2018, the Newberry will host a symposium titled “Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” featuring a morning program on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and afternoon speakers discussing the Century of Progress International Exposition of 1933-34. Columbian Exposition presentations run from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm and features [...]
Veteran’s Days at the 1893 World’s Fair
Today marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the end of the Great War, when hostilities ceased on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. This anniversary is now commemorated in the United States as Veteran’s Day, a time to honor American veterans, both living and dead. The day was originally known--and still is to many--as Armistice Day, for reflecting on how we can achieve [...]
Chicago Mayor DeWitt Cregier Agitates for a World’s Fair
DeWitt Clinton Cregier (June 1, 1829 - November 9, 1898) was Chicago’s 31st mayor--serving from 1889 to 1891--and the first of several “World’s Fair” mayors. “The New York Orphan Who Built Chicago,” Cregier got the ball rolling only a few months into his term by organizing the civic meeting to build the proposal for Chicago to host the Columbian Exposition. The article reprinted below, from The Illustrated World’s Fair, [...]
Dec. 8, 2018: “Behind the Model: Reconstructing the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, December 8, 2018, the Newberry will host “Behind the Model: Reconstructing the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition”. Dr. Lisa Snyder, of UCLA’s Office of Information Technology, will discuss the technology and research behind her rich computer reconstruction of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition’s White City. [...]