“Devil in the White City” movie is back on with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese looking to reunite

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are looking to get back in the saddle.

A theatrical feature-length adaptation of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, which has been in various stages of production for over 20 years, is being revived at 20th Century, with Killers of the Flower Moon actor-director duo nearing deals to join, Entertainment Weekly has learned. DiCaprio is in talks to star in the project, while Scorsese is in negotiations to direct, and both would produce the film alongside Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn, and Jennifer Davisson.

The non-fiction book — which has been eyed for a film adaptation since before it hit the bestseller list in early 2003 — tells the intertwined stories of architect Daniel Burnham, who oversaw the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and con artist H. H. Holmes, who claimed he murdered 27 victims in the area around the time of the expo. It's not yet clear whether DiCaprio would star as Holmes or Burnham, though the project's development history suggests it would focus more on Holmes.

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Tom Cruise first optioned the rights to Devil in the White City in 2003 with Kathryn Bigelow intended to direct the project. Around the same time, DiCaprio began developing his own project around the Holmes case without the rights to Larson's book, instead drawing from public domain material with writers Aaron and Matthew Benay.

Cruise's option lapsed in 2004, leading DiCaprio to eventually purchase the rights to Larson's book himself in 2010. Scorsese then boarded the project for the first time in 2015, with DiCaprio intended to play Holmes and with screenwriter Billy Ray taking a crack at the script.

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In 2019, the project shifted to television at Hulu, with DiCaprio and Scorsese staying on as producers. Keanu Reeves had joined the project to portray Burnham, but left in late 2022, and director Todd Field (Tár) departed a few days later. By March 2023, the TV version of the project was officially dead.

Assuming the film moves forward, Devil in the White City will mark DiCaprio's seventh feature film with Scorsese. They previously collaborated on Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

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Additionally, if the film does get a theatrical release, it will be Scorsese's first non-streaming project since 2016's Silence. (The Irishman received a limited theatrical release in 2019 before debuting on Netflix, while 2023's Killers of the Flower Moon received a wide theatrical release before hitting Apple TV+.)

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