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
Rolling-Chair Romances
Recruit eight-hundred young college men to the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and assign them to work as escorts for young, attractive women. The situation is fraught with danger, advised the Chicago Record in an article appearing in May of 1893. The annotated news story reprinted below aimed to expose the “rolling romances” formed at the World’s Fair between the wheel-chair pushers—young men with a “very attentive [...]
Pushing for a Labor Strike at the Fair
The American labor movement and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition share an intertwined history. Labor Day became an official U.S. federal holiday in 1894. The official histories of the World’s Fair rarely recognize the back-breaking labor of the working class and largely immigrant labor force that carved the lagoon, constructed the White City, operated the concessions. The following article from the August 16, 1893 issue of the Chicago Inter [...]
Aug. 30, 2018 – Feb. 24, 2019: S.S. Columbus Whale Boat Exhibit at the North Point Lighthouse and Museum (Milwaukee)
"A Whale of a Ship" exhibit at the North Point Lighthouse and Museum in Milwaukee. The S.S. Christopher Columbus, the only whaleback ship ever built for passenger service, transported millions of visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair between downtown Chicago and the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. The excursion liner operated on the Great Lakes through 1933. A new exhibit running from August 30, 2018, through February 24, 2019 [...]
Sept. 8-Oct. 13, 2018: “Chicago’s Gold Coast Patronage and the 1893 World’s Fair” Tours (Chicago)
In conjunction with their exhibit “Treasures from the White City: The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893," the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago is offering a series of walking tours titled “Chicago's Gold Coast Patronage and the 1893 World's Fair” on Saturdays from 1-2:30 pm between September 8 to October 13. Led by Sally Kalmbach, the tour will explore Chicago’s famous Gold Coast neighborhood. Still one the most beautiful [...]
Inside the Administration Building Dome: “The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences” by William Dodge (Part I)
PART I: DECORATING THE DOME OF THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING “Fame comes only after death to those who have slaved during life.” —William de Leftwich Dodge The gem and crown of the Exposition Along with the Ferris Wheel and the Statue of the Republic, this magnificent structure is one of the most iconic images of the 1893 World’s Fair. With its grand and golden dome, the Administration Building towered over [...]
When the Brownies Visited the Columbian Exposition Fairgrounds
In the summer of 1892, the job of readying the fairgrounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition for its official dedication in October and then finishing work in time for the May 1, 1893, opening must have seemed an impossible task. Luckily, the magical Brownies were there to “lend a helping hand.” The Brownies are a band of adventurous and mischievous little characters created by writer and illustrator Palmer Cox [...]
Aug. 25, 2018: Historic Marker for the Norway Building
On Saturday August 25, 2018, an Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) marker commemorating the Norway Building was dedicated in Jackson Park on the exact site where the building stood during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A delegation of Norwegians traveled to the event from Orkdal—where the building was originally constructed and then returned to in 2017 as a museum and heritage center (see "The Long Journey of the Norway Building.") [...]
Sep. 28-Dec. 31, 2018: “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The celebration of the 125th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 will climax this fall with a major exhibit and series of programs at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The Library is simultaneously celebrating the 125th anniversary of the opening of their beautiful building, designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb, architect of the Fisheries Building and several other structures on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Pictures from an [...]
Wooded Island Well Suited for Climate Change
It is not easy to find good news in reports about climate change. A news story in the August 17, 2018, Chicago Tribune offered one small encouraging note in an otherwise distressing description of the impacts of climate change on the Chicago region. “The birches in the corner of your kid’s favorite park, the towering spruce in your suburban backyard, that graceful linden on your block — all are likely [...]
Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future
Perched on a hilltop above Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, stands a magnificent structure having two significant connections to the 1893 World’s Fair. After more than 120 years of operation, this important legacy of the Columbian Exposition faces an uncertain future. Architect Henry Ives Cobb. (Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. (Graphic Co., 1894).] Henry Ives Cobb, born on August 18, 1859, in Brookline, Massachusetts, had become [...]