Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Devil in the White City will be Martin Scorsese’s next film with Leonardo DiCaprio

DiCaprio will play a charismatic doctor turned serial killer who murdered as many as 200 people

Christopher Hooton
Tuesday 20 December 2016 05:46 EST
Comments
Scorsese and DiCaprio on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street
Scorsese and DiCaprio on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

With passion project Silence out the way, Martin Scorsese is starting to think about his next project with Leonardo DiCaprio.

There’s been talk of the pair, who last worked together on The Wolf of Wall Street, cooking up an adaptation of Erik Larson’s book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, for over a year now, and it seems the wheels are finally in motion.

“Right now, there is a script being worked on,” he told Sun Media.

“One of the things that I had to stop for the past six months [to complete Silence] was my meetings on that script. They want me to start again in January and see if we can find a way because it’s an extraordinary story.”

DiCaprio purchased the film rights to the book in 2010, which presents non-fiction events in a novelistic style.

Set in 1893, it weaves together the tales of two men - both of which sound very up DiCaprio’s street character-wise, though he is believed to be playing the latter:

- Daniel H. Burnham, an architect and urban designer who was behind the 1893 World's Fair

- H.H. Holmes, a charismatic doctor, con artist, bigamist and serial killer who lured anywhere between 27 and 200 victims to his elaborately designed ‘Murder Castle’.

Herman Webster Mudgett, who went by the name Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes
Herman Webster Mudgett, who went by the name Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes

The Devil in the White City will be Dicaprio’s sixth film as Scorsese’s protagonist, following Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street.

DiCaprio said he shares a vision on film and life with the director, explaining: “We’ve become very close and we really love hanging out together.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in