Leonardo DiCaprio is The Devil in the White City
It’s hard not to get excited at this little piece of casting/film packaging. Leonardo DiCaprio in the Erik Larson book The Devil in the White City–well, the movie version we mean. For those unfamiliar with the story, Larson’s book details the exploits of America’s first known serial killer Dr. H.H. Holmes, who owned and operated his very own Chamber of Horrors during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.
And by “Chamber of Horrors,” we’re talking real life, not some elaborate sideshow attraction. At his hotel, Holmes would butcher single young women, making use of gas chambers, autopsy tables, trap doors, and even a crematorium. Experts say he may have killed between 27 and 200 people during his reign of terror, which not only makes him a pretty prolific guy, but also calls in to question those experts’ “expert” status. That’s almost like saying, “We’re looking for a suspect between 4’11″ and 7′ tall, who may or may not have brown hair.” Really impressive fact-finding there, historians.
Anyhow, The Devil in the White City will be DiCaprio’s next film after he stars as J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming biopic Hoover based on the life of the controversial federal officer. Deadline notes that the White City project was originally in the hands of Tom Cruise, but DiCaprio snatched it up when it went into turnaround. Given the fact that most people have had an ass full of Tom Cruise, that’s good news.
About Aric Mitchell: Aric Mitchell is a full-time freelance writer, film critic, author, and journalist living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Specialties include feature writing, reporting, search engine optimization, entertainment, humor, and issues of general interest to men. Credits include The Rugged, inStash, The City Wire, Flickchart, Break Media, and print magazine Celebrate Arkansas. He also makes his horror debut with the graphic novel anthology Grave Conditions from Haunted Computer.