Paramount recently secured the rights to the 2003 real-life story about a prolific mass murderer named Dr HH Holmes, the role which DiCaprio has eyed for a long time.
- Aug 11, 2015
AceShowbiz - Leonardo DiCaprio would once again work with Martin Scorsese as Paramount won the bid to Erik Larson's bestselling book "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America". DiCaprio reportedly has had his eyes for the role for a long time.
"The Devil in the White City" is a project that had been in the works for more than a decade. Tom Cruise once optioned the book with the intention to star but DiCaprio, under his Appian Way production company, bought the rights to the 2003 non-fiction book five years ago. A recent big auction had five big studios, including Universal and Fox, bidding aggressively for the movie rights to the 2003 non-fiction book.
"The Devil in the White City" is based on real event of a 19th-century serial killer named Dr HH Holmes. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Holmes was responsible for luring mainly young single women to his World's Fair Hotel in Chicago and dissecting them. DiCaprio will slip in the role of the most prolific mass murderer back in the days.
Scorsese is directing from the script by "Captain Phillips" scribe Billy Ray. According to Deadline, the film will center on two main characters, the producer/architect of the World's Fair, Daniel H. Burnham, and Holmes, the man who works for him and is responsible for the death of 27 to 200 people. DiCaprio is producing with his Appian Way partner Jennifer Davisson along with Scorsese, Stacey Sher, and Rick Yorn.
DiCaprio and Scorsese had previously worked together in five films including the Oscar-nominated "The Wolf of Wall Street". Paramount had them locked for "The Devil in the White City", which has a seven figure commitment.
