Martin Scorsese’s Scrapped Movie From 22 Years Ago Just Received a Major Update

Martin Scorsese had little luck trying to revive his long-awaited movies last year, but this time things are moving forward with another film that the director seemingly abandoned many years ago.

The project has been long associated with Scorsese’s acting favorite Leonardo DiCaprio who was supposed to secure the leading role — yet nothing was made official, with the movie itself being left on the shelves for a while now. However, it is now said that the project is being revived with both Scorsese and DiCaprio on board.

Martin Scorsese’s The Devil in the White City Is Happening After All

According to Entertainment Weekly, 20th Century has decided to move forward with Erik Larson's book adaptation which spent many years as Scorsese’s most awaited, yet forever shelved project.

Leonardo DiCaprio is reportedly in talks to star in the future film, though it’s not clear yet whether he will portray architect Daniel Burnham, who has witnessed the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, or con artist H. H. Holmes, who confessed to have killed 27 people at around the same time.

Still, some previous revelations about The Devil in the White City suggested the plot would take a closer look at Holmes’ history, so it’s the latter’s role that DiCaprio will most likely end up getting.

The Devil in the White City Was In Production Hell For Decades

The movie was repeatedly passed on from one creative team to another, initially being secured by Tom Cruise who bought the rights for the book’s adaptation back in 2003; DiCaprio was also eager to bring The Devil in the White City to the big screen, though he was working on it separately from Cruise and without obtaining rights.

A year later Cruise abandoned the idea, but DiCaprio got the rights only by 2010, leading to Martin Scorsese joining the project as its director in 2015. Four years later, in 2019, The Devil in the White City was reimagined as a TV series for Hulu, with both Scorsese and DiCaprio staying on board as producers and Keanu Reeves being cast as Daniel Burnham.

The movie-turned-show eventually ended up completely abandoned after Reeves and potential director Todd Field both quit the project.