Over a decade ago, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way partnered to bring “Devil In The White City,” the true story of America’s first serial killer, Dr. H. H. Holmes, during the late 1800s in Chicago, to the big screen. Originally conceived as a feature film — Scorsese and DiCaprio attached initially as director and star, way back when—the project eventually developed into a streaming series at Hulu back in 2019 after multiple delays and hiccups. The project would also luck out by recently landing director Todd Field (“TÁR”) and actor Keanu Reeves (“John Wick 4”) in one of the lead roles.
However, another major curveball has been thrown. According to a new report from Variety, Reeves will no longer play the role of architect Daniel H. Burham, and a replacement hasn’t been named. The Canadian actor was set to make his American television debut. Reeves had done previous work as a teen for the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) before getting into major feature films and becoming a Hollywood star.
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The logline of the Hulu series based on the Erik Larson novel of the same name reads as follows:
“‘Devil In The White City’ tells the true story of Daniel H. Burnham, a demanding but visionary architect who races to make his mark on history with the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, America’s first modern serial killer and the man behind the notorious ‘Murder Castle’ built in the Fair’s shadow.”
Sam Shaw is adapting the Larson novel and will serve as showrunner. The series’ producing team consists of Scorsese, DiCaprio, Shaw, Lila Byock, Rick Yorn, Jennifer Davisson, Stacey Sher, and Mark Lafferty.
A reason for the exit wasn’t mentioned, but scheduling issues could be the problem, given how many projects the actor has on deck. Reeves still has to shoot “John Wick 5” for Lionsgate as that installment may be his last, and he recently signed on to reprise his DC Comics role for director Francis Lawrence’s sequel to “Constantine.” Also, at Netflix, he’s developing a feature film version of his BOOM! Studios comic book “BRZRKR,” which Reeves teased he’d consider directing himself.
Just another round of bad luck for “Devil In The White City,” but hopefully, with a sizable filmmaking name like Field still attached, the project will quickly find another actor so production can finally move forward. DiCaprio first acquired the rights to the novel back in 2010, and with the project so close to the finish line, the producers are probably scrambling right now as we speak. But it’s a plum role in a plum project, so fingers crossed.