Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio. Photo Credit Flickr Museum of Cinema
There are rumours that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are collaborating on a major project and reuniting to bring us a true-crime epic film.
The duo has previously worked together in films like The Aviator, The Departed and Shutter Island and this new project, if it goes ahead is sure to be another major hit. The film will be based on the true-crime book from Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City. It has been in the works for years, awaiting the green light and 20th Century Studios has stepped in to make it happen.
Reportedly DiCaprio is considering the lead role in the film and Scorsese might be taking to the directing chair for it. Both DiCaprio and Scorsese are producers to the film as well as Stacey Sher and Rick Yorn.
Scorsese and DiCaprio to join up on film version of The Devil in the White City
In the 2003 book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, the historical non-fiction book follows the parallel stories of two real-life people. Determined architect of the fair Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes, a con artist and serial killer who uses the fair as a place from which to lure victims back to his murder castle.
The notorious H.H. Holmes, had his Chicago based, three-story labyrinthine Murder Castle constructed with purpose-built spaces for murdering, trapdoors and concealed passageways. In real life Holmes was convicted of murdering his accomplice Benjamin Pitezel and subsequently confessed to killing 27 more people.
Rights to The Devil in the White City secured by DiCaprio
He was hung in 1896. Some of his supposed victims were later found alive which makes a clear chronology of events difficult and proves that Holmes was not necessarily a reliable narrator. There are however historic accounts that claim his death toll might have been closer to the hundreds.
The rights to the film were first secured back in 2010 by DiCaprio with reports then suggesting he might want to play the notorious H.H. Holmes. There have been other attempts to bring the film to the big screen including a Hulu series, but without a screenplay its future remained uncertain. With input from 20th Century there may well be light at the tunnel to get the project of the ground and into theatres.
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