Believe it or not, 13 years ago, we at Moviepilot published the first news about a film adaptation of Devil in the White City with Leonardo DiCaprio. At that time, the later Oscar winner had secured the rights to the factual novel of the same name by Erik Larson. Martin Scorsese later joined the project and eventually Keanu Reeves. However, none of that helped. According to a new report, 13 years of work to bring Devil in the White City to fruition has fizzled out for the time being.
What the new message reveals about Leonardo DiCaprio’s series
The last status was that Devil in the White City will be filmed as a series on the American streaming service Hulu. This project has apparently failed, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter. At Hulu is the project “dead”. Problems had become apparent in the last few months.
Keanu Reeves (as serial killer HH Holmes) and Tár director Todd Field dropped out last year. According to THR, a top-class replacement was then found in the form of Jude Law and shooting star Jeremy Allen White from Disney+ stress manufacture The Bear. A director was in negotiations with Matt Ross (Silicon Valley).
But Hulu was apparently not convinced of the project. After the streaming service ordered the miniseries, it has now canceled again. This could have to do with a general need to save on the big streaming services and TV providers. After all, Devil in the White City is set in Chicago at the end of the 19th century and would have required a corresponding amount of effort as a historical series. However, reasons for Hulu’s cancellation are not known.
Devil in the White City tells the story of a real-life serial killer
The 2003 (and at times chilling) book Devil in the White City details the true story of the serial killer HH Holmes, who killed numerous people between 1890 and 1893 in his specially designed murder mansion.
At the same time, Larson talks about the architect Daniel Burnham, who wants to create a utopian vision of a new city at the same time as the Chicago World’s Fair. Hence the title: The Devil in the White City.
How is the filming going?
Devil in the White City began its adaptation story as a movie starring DiCaprio as HH Holmes and has morphed into a series over the past 13 years, with DiCaprio and Scorsese producing. And now?
According to the Hollywood Reporter the responsible production company ABC Signature is looking for a new home for the killer story. However, it is questionable whether a generous client can be found for the complex project. Gone are the days when broadcasters like HBO or providers like Hulu and Disney+ lavishly gave the green light to one major project after another.
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Batgirl could have been a triumph for the HBO Max streaming service. Now, however, the film is at the end of a development that has been announced for years: the golden age of streaming that we have experienced in the past decade is over. In the podcast we talk about the effects and consequences.