Leonardo DiCaprio fresh off his success as the dreamscape architect from Inception, will now turn his talents towards portraying an evil psychopath from the latter half of the eighteenth century. Based on the book The Devil in the White City, which DiCaprio’s company Appian Way purchased the rights to, the story focuses on the contrasts that exist between Daniel H. Burnham, the man who creates the White City for the 1983 World Fair and the murderous charms of Dr. H.H. Holmes.
One of America’s first serial killers, Dr H.H.Holmes would lure women and guests to be slain in what was dubbed his Murder Castle, which was a hotel near the White City. This ‘Castle’ was a cleverly constructed labyrinth of windowless rooms, stairways and passages leading to nowhere with gas lines to asphyxiate guests as well as a dissection chamber and crematorium in the basement.
The real man Herman W. Mudgett who used the alias Dr H.H.Holmes, made a living manipulating and coercing his victims to obtain life insurance polices and made fraudulent business deals where most of his partners fell prey to his true intentions as did the unsuspecting players who had no idea of his diabolical plans.
Tom Cruise was interested in adapting the Erik Larson novel back in 2003, as was DiCaprio who was considering a similar story based on information in the public domain. Now with his partner group acquiring the rights, development of the script and a production package can be put forward to the studios.
Leonardo Dicaprio is currently working on the Clint Eastwood biopic as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, in the aptly titled Hoover for Warner Bros.
Administration Building of Chicago's 1893 World Expo
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