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 – The Columbian Liberty Bell (p. 56)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 56 – THE COLUMBIAN LIBERTY BELL THE COLUMBIAN LIBERTY BELL.—Not least among the ideas natural to the Columbian year, and which finally embodied themselves, was that of casting a new Liberty Bell, one the very metal of which should have associations connected with the thought of liberty and a universal brotherhood. The plan of such a bell was conceived [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – United States Military Encampment, Government Plaza (p. 55)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 55 – UNITED STATES MILITARY ENCAMPMENT, GOVERNMENT PLAZA UNITED STATES MILITARY ENCAMPMENT, GOVERNMENT PLAZA.—North and east of the Manufactures Building was an extensive plaza devoted altogether to the uses of the United States Government. Here were the military encampment, the life-saving station, the signal service bureau, the naval station, the light-house exhibit and similar governmental features. The view shown [...]
June 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The June 2018 Trivia Question When the Ferris Wheel attraction finally opened, on June 21, 1893, which musical group performed in one of the cars for the inaugural rotation? A. the Iowa State Band B. the Exposition Orchestra C. the Irish Village choir D. [...]
Iowa State Band Performs on Inaugural Spin of the Ferris Wheel
The great Ferris Wheel opened to the public on June 21, 1893. Though more than a month late (the fair opened on May 1), the wheel became one of the most popular attraction of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Some 2,000 spectators gathered on the Midway Plaisance for the opening ceremony. The festivities began at 3 pm with speeches by Robert W. Hunt, President of the Ferris Wheel Company; George [...]
Cephalopod Week Visits the 1893 World’s Fair
“Cephalopod Week” on NPR’s Science Friday celebrates the “amazing, adaptive, and sometimes creepy” family of sea creatures that includes the squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus. Among the wonders of the 1893 Word's Fair lurked several tentacled delights. Armed with sucking disks on its tentacles Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair could view cephalopods inside Henry Ives Cobb’s beautiful Fisheries Building. Trumball White and William Igleheart’s World's Columbian Exposition Chicago [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Facade of the French Section (p. 54)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 54 – THE FACADE OF THE FRENCH SECTION FACADE OF THE FRENCH SECTION.—Among the various magnificent national displays made in the Manufactures Building that of France ranked with the greatest, either exteriorly considered or with regard to the works and products on exhibition. The section was on the east side of the north and south thoroughfare, known as Columbia [...]
A Flag for the Fair
In 1893, the U.S. flag sported forty-four stars for the forty-four states of the union. Flag Day marks the anniversary of adoption of the United States flag on June 14, 1777. An official holiday (though not a federal holiday) since 1946, Flag Day commemorations emerged in the 1880s. Apparently there were no Flag Day observances at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition on June 14, though. In honor [...]
“Nicodemus” in Las Vegas is a Virtual Reality Fair Fright
Electricity at the World's Fair, on the set of the new virtual-reality adventure "Nicodemus" in Las Vegas. The demon Nicodemus is on the loose in the old fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. That is, if you are inside of a new virtual-reality attraction in Las Vegas. The VOID at Grand Canal Shoppes in the Venetian/The Palazzo resort (3377 South Las Vegas Boulevard) in Las Vegas [...]
“Devil in the White City” is top-10 Illinois Book
Erik Larson’s 2003 best-selling book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America ignited a passion for the 1893 World’s Fair in countless readers. The title recently earned a spot in the list of top-10 books with links to Illinois. Larson’s historical non-fiction thriller tells parallel stories about the monumental efforts of Daniel Burnham to build the White City in Jackson Park [...]
Columbian Exposition Stamp Collecting … and Complaints
Of the many “firsts” associated with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the issuing of the first commemorative postage stamps by the United States Post Office became philatelic history. The set of sixteen stamps are among the most sought-after by collectors of stamps and Columbiana. In the winter of 1892, Postmaster-General John Wanamaker reported on the Columbian series: The introduction of the Columbian series of postage stamps will contribute in [...]