Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio Might Be Teaming Up Again for a Serial Killer Epic

Warner Bros.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio could be gearing up for their next big collaboration, potentially reuniting as director and actor after acclaimed works like The Departed, The Aviator, Shutter Island, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

The project is The Devil in the White City, an adaptation of Erik Larson’s bestselling true-crime book. After years of development limbo, 20th Century Studios has now stepped in to revive the film, with Scorsese reportedly in talks to direct and DiCaprio considering a lead role. Both are attached as producers alongside Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn, and Jennifer Davisson. v

The 2003 historical non-fiction book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, explores the dramatic contrasts of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It tells the parallel stories of Daniel Burnham, an ambitious architect behind the dazzling fair, and H.H. Holmes, a cunning con artist and serial killer who used the event’s chaos to lure victims to his now-infamous  “Murder Castle.”

This Murder Castle was a three-story labyrinth allegedly outfitted with trapdoors, hidden passageways, and rooms designed for killing. Holmes, who was convicted for the murder of his accomplice, Benjamin Pitezel, ended up confessing to 27 murders. That being said, it’s a blurry history of fact and fiction, seeing as some of these victims were later found alive and sensationalised accounts have claimed his true body count could reach into the hundreds.

DiCaprio secured the film rights in 2010, with early reports suggesting he had his eye on portraying Holmes. There have been several attempts to bring the story to life, including as a Hulu series that, at one point, had Keanu Reeves attached to star.

As first reported by Deadline, there’s no screenplay, so details remain uncertain. However, 20th Century’s involvement is promising, particularly with Disney Live Action president David Greenbaum and 20th Century Studios production president Steve Asbell overseeing the project. Both executives have recently been attached to high-profile films like time travel pic The Barrier, starring Austin Butler, and Deliver Me From Nowhere, a Bruce Springsteen drama with Jeremy Allen White in the lead.

DiCaprio will next be seen in One Battle After Another, what’s shaped up to be the biggest film yet from Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights). The $US115 million Warner Bros. picture, with a cast that also includes Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Alana Haim, Benicio del Toro, and Chase Infiniti, is gearing up for an August release.

Apple Studios