Leonardo DiCaprio to Play America’s First Serial Killer for Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese will once again direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a new film based on the book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America. There were five studios bidding for the film project, and it landed at Paramount Pictures. It will be called The Devil in the White City.
The movie is based on the true story of Doctor H.H. Holmes, who was one of the most insane and horrific serial killers I’ve ever heard about. He has been labeled as America’s first serial killer, and what this guy did was absolutely terrifying! The story is set in 19th century Chicago, and he makes Hannibal Lector looks like an elementary school teacher.
DiCaprio will play H.H. Holmes, who admitted to killing 27 people, but in reality killed closer to 200 people. During the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Holmes built The World’s Fair Hotel, an inn for people to stay that was nightmarishly lethal. The sociopath used his charming demeanor to lure guests into his hotel, which has since been come to be known as murder castle. Why? Because Holmes included a gas chamber, crematorium, and a dissecting table where he would murder his victims and strip their skeletons to sell for medical and scientific study.
There’s a documentary about Holmes that I embedded below for you to watch. It will give you a better idea of this man, and how this movie is going to play out. There’s a better documentary, though, that you can find on Netflix. I watched it about a year ago, and it was the first time I was introduced to this guy. Holmes even knew he was evil, telling police,
"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing — I was born with the 'Evil One' standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since."
This is a very different role for DiCaprio as he’s never played such a diabolical and sinister character before. Will this finally give him his Oscar moment? I sure hope so! The guy deserves one.
With Scorsese at the helm and DiCaprio taking on the lead role, I couldn’t be more excited for this movie. They always make great films together, and there’s no doubt that it’s going to be a wonderfully horrific film.
The movie will be scripted by Billy Ray, who has worked on films such as The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips. The most recent project Scorsese and DiCaprio worked on together was The Wolf of Wall Street, and apparently, this H.H. Holmes project is something that DiCaprio has wanted to do for a long time.