After giving us five excellent films in Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and, of course, The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese will be teaming up once again with Leonardo DiCaprio for The Devil in the White City, an adaptation of Erik Larson’s novel of the same name.
Set to be penned by Captain Phillips scribe Billy Ray, the film will tell the story of Dr. HH Holmes, a man who “preyed on anywhere from 27 to 200 people at a time when the city of Chicago was enthralled with hosting the World’s Fair of 1893.” He would use “charm and guile to lure guests into what became known as a ‘murder castle,’” which featured a gas chamber, crematorium and a dissecting table.”
The project is currently housed at Paramount and is expected to be the next film for both Scorsese and DiCaprio, with the latter playing the doctor. No word yet on any other casting, but with these two powerhouses now attached, you can bet that a number of A-list stars will be lining up for this one.
We’ll keep you posted when we hear more on The Devil in the White City, but for now, color us intrigued. Though dark and twisted, this should be a fascinating film for the duo to tackle and given how successful they’ve been thus far, I can’t wait to see what they do with it.