THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY Director Drops Out After Keanu Reeves Exits
Hulu has hit a couple of pretty huge road bumps in getting their series adaptation of The Devil in the White City into production. First, Keanu Reeves jumps ship, and now we’ve learned that the director of the series, Todd Field, has also dropped out. Producers are now back on the hunt for a director and a lead actor.
It sucks that this project is having issues. I wonder why the talent is exiting. Probably creative decisions. This series is an adaptation of the book written by Erik Larson. The Devil in the White City tells the true story of two men, “an architect and a serial killer, whose fates were forever linked by The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. It follows Daniel H. Burnham, a brilliant and fastidious architect racing to make his mark on the world and Henry H. Holmes, a handsome and cunning doctor who fashioned his own pharmaceutical ‘Murder Castle’ on fair grounds – a palace built to seduce, torture and mutilate young women.”
The series is said to take audiences on “a tour of murder, romance and mystery in the gilded age.” Holmes admitted to killing 27 people, but in reality is said to have killed closer to 200 people. He built The World’s Fair Hotel, which was an inn for people to stay at while visiting, and the sociopath used his charming demeanor to lure guests into his hotel, which has since been come to be known as murder castle. The castle 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. When Holmes was arrested, he told the 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."
Sam Shaw is writing the series and will serve as showrunner. Will he stick around!? The eight-episode series is targeted for a 2024 launch, with production now expected to start next year.