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
Fake News, 1892 edition
While it may feel like a new problem, fake news has been with us for a long time. Perhaps no day brings more “alternative facts” than does April Fool’s Day. Long before Russian troll farms, the New York press was at it, attempting to undermine the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition that was set to open in Chicago on May 1, 1893. The January 11, 1892, issue of World’s Columbian [...]
Rare Saint-Gaudens Columbian Exposition Medal Sells for $45,600
A medal described as the “holy grail of Columbian Expo numismatics” sold at auction on March 21, for $45,600. Stack’s Bowers Galleries offered a rare example of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Columbian Exposition award medal with his original--and ultimately rejected--reverse side image of a nude male youth. Each exhibitor at the 1893 World’s Fair received an award medal, meaning that 20,000 or so such medals were minted, and many still circulate [...]
Out Like a Lamb
March came in like a lion, so it should go out like a lamb, right? "Mary & Her Lamb" [Image from the Keystone-Mast Collection, UC Riverside, California Museum of Photography.] Choosing a lion from among the many prominent felines present at the 1893 World’s fair was quite easy for our post back on March 1. Finding a lamb for this accompanying end-of-the-month post has been a much more [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Great Display of Windmills (p. 43)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 43 – THE GREAT DISPLAY OF WINDMILLS THE GREAT DISPLAY OF WINDMILLS.—One of the most picturesque effects produced on the Exposition grounds was that resulting from the grouping of windmills of all sorts and kinds in competition. From the old Dutch windmill made famous in poetry and story to the latest patented American invention, they were there in the [...]
Artifacts of the 1893 World’s Fair Unearthed in Jackson Park
The Chicago Tribune reports that archaeologists have unearthed artifacts of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In late 2017, researchers working for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey excavated seven sites in the area of the proposed Obama Presidential Center (OPC). Dig locations were on the west side of Jackson Park as well as in the eastern edge of the Midway Plaisance, where a parking garage for the OPC [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Administration Building (p. 42)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 42 – THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.—The heart of the great entity known as the Columbian Exposition was in the Administration Building. Here were the offices of the Presidents and here, also, those of the Director-General and some of his immediate lieutenants. From here the vast machinery was directed and controlled, and about here as a nucleus thronged [...]
April 22, 2018: World’s Fair Memorabilia Show
The 24th annual World's Fair Memorabilia Show will be held on Sunday, April 22, 2018 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, there will also be [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Japanese Government Buildings (p. 41)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 41 – JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—From the very inception of the idea of the Columbian Exposition, the Japanese Government showed a hearty good will toward the United States in the movement, and was one of the earliest nations on the ground engaged in the erection of its buildings. A site on the Wooded Island was given the [...]
Grover Cleveland’s Columbian Exposition Keepsake
We conclude a trio of stories this week about President Grover Cleveland’s visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with a newspaper report about a handsome Columbian Exposition keepsake. The following tidbit about Opening Day of the Columbian Exposition on May 1, 1893, comes from “The Great Fair Opens” in the June 1893 issue of Current Literature [public domain]. Bibliophiles may wonder where this handsome volume is today! [...]
March 23/25, 2018: Lecture on Composer Amy Beach (Boston)
Composer and pianist Amy Beach (1867-1944) made significant musical contributions to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition commissioned Beach to compose her Festival Jubilate (Op. 17) for the dedication of the Woman’s Building in October of 1892. This was her first commissioned work and reportedly is the first known work of an American woman composer commissioned in the U.S. “Why [...]