WASHINGTON: Hollywood star Keanu Reaves is in negotiations to star in Hulu’s series adaptation of ‘The Devil In The White City’, the big-budget take on Erik Larson’s 2003 book.
According to Deadline, the project would mark Reeves’ first major US TV role. It marks a significant step forward for the adaptation, which has been in various stages of development since Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights to the book in 2010 and previously set it up as a feature at Paramount with Martin Scorsese to direct. ‘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 fairgrounds, a palace built to seduce, torture and mutilate young women. The story takes the viewer on a tour of murder, romance and mystery in the gilded age.
In 2019, Hulu announced that it was developing the project as a big-budget series with DiCaprio and Scorsese executive producing alongside Rick Yorn, Sam Shaw, Jennifer Davisson and Stacey Sher.