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 – Statue of California (p. 60)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 60 – STATUE OF CALIFORNIA STATUE OF CALIFORNIA.—Typical of the great state upon the Pacific Coast was the Statue of California, a striking figure in the huge structure erected in imitation of one of the old Spanish missions. The artist had caught the spirit of the commonwealth, and joyous luxuriance was as apparent in the statue as indicated by [...]
Virility on the Midway: “The Longest Beard in the World” (Death Valley Days, 1956)
We’ll be exploring other films and videos that use the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition as a setting in our “Filming the Fair” series. Check out other WCE videos in the Zoopraxiscope Hall section of our website. Have you heard of “The Longest Beard in the World” concession on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition? This fictional attraction plays a part in an episode of the long-running [...]
Take a Seat … Back to the Fair
Most people riding on municipal trains or buses don’t want to think too much about the surface their butt is planted on. For good reason. If you are a fan of the 1893 World’s Fair, however, the seat underneath your backside probably has a direct lineage to the World’s Columbian Exposition. Chicago Magazine offers a surprising report that the company that makes about eighty percent of the seats for transit agencies [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Haiti and New South Wales Buildings (p. 58)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 58 – HAITI AND NEW SOUTH WALES BUILDINGS HAITI AND NEW SOUTH WALES BUILDINGS.—On the thoroughfare running west from the British Government Building on the lake shore, were the buildings of Haiti and New South Wales, located so together but by chance in the distribution of space. It was to be expected that the island republic, the region of [...]
Columbian Half-Dollar Coins Plummet in Value
Coin Week on June 28, 2018, published an article on changes in the market value of collector’s coins from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “The Rise and Fall of the Columbian Half Dollar: A Commemorative Story” by Q. David Bowers reports that 1892 and 1893 Columbian commemorative half dollars have fallen from a high of $3,850- $5,000 in 1990 to only $310 in 2018. The answer has more to [...]
July 1-Sept. 30, 2018: “John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age” at the Art Institute of Chicago
A new exhibit running at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) has reunited a set of paintings by John Singer Sargent that were on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age features approximately 100 objects from the AIC’s collection, private collections, and public institutions. Among them are four of the nine portrait paintings that Sargent exhibited inside the Palace of Fine [...]
John Singer Sargent at the World’s Columbian Exposition
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was one of the most talked-about American artists whose works were displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Mr. Sargent easily leads the portrait painters,” wrote Ernest Knaufft in his review of art at the Exposition. “We should dislike to pick out any separate example, but taking him in the aggregate, he becomes the ideal painter for painters.” Another contemporary review of the Columbian Exposition [...]
Aug. 9, 2018: A World of Innovation Exploring the Inventions and Engineering of the 1893 World’s Fair
The Chicago Engineers' Foundation (CEF) is hosting a Columbian Exposition event titled A World of Innovation: Exploring the Inventions and Engineering of the 1893 World's Fair on Thursday, August 9, 2018 from 12-1:30 PM at the Union League Club of Chicago. With a mission to encourage and empower the next generation of engineers, the CEF is one of the three foundations with a home at the Union League Club. [...]
July 21, 2018: “World’s Fare” at Chicago Athletic Association
Experience Columbian cuisine on July 21 at “World’s Fare” held in the new pop-up bar at the historic Chicago Athletic Association (CAA) hotel. To celebrate the exhibition “John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age” running now at the Art Institute of Chicago, the CAA has created a Sargent-themed bar called “Dear Carmencita” (named after Sargent's 1890 painting La Carmencita in the exhibit), which is open from 5 pm to [...]
Spirit of the 1893 World’s Fair in Journeyman Distillery’s new Field Gin
Raise your glass to the 1893 World’s Fair with a new spirit that delivers tastes and aromas from the Columbian Exposition's Agricultural and Horticultural buildings. Journeyman Distillery of Three Oaks, Michigan, has partnered the Field Museum in Chicago to celebrate the museum's 125th anniversary by creating Field Gin, a new small-batch spirit released in July 2018 and made using botanicals displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition. Field Gin [...]