A decade ago, a feature film adaptation of the Erik Larson book The Devil In The White City was being developed as a directing vehicle at Paramount Pictures for Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star in the American serial tale set years before the turn of the century in 1893.
The project was more recently converted into a streaming series at Hulu and there is now word from Deadline that Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix) is being courted for a role, this would be the actor’s first jump to television excluding the made-for-TV film Babes In Toyland co-starring Drew Barrymore.
It’s unclear if Reeves would be playing the role of architect Daniel H. Burnham or the doctor/serial killer Henry H. Holmes.
Here’s how Deadline describes the project:
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 story takes the viewer on a tour of murder, romance and mystery in the gilded age.
Todd Field will direct the first two episodes.
If Keanu Reeves signs on it’s unknown how this would affect the shoot for John Wick 5, the final chapter in the Lionsgate action series. The final installment that could go into production before or after Chad Stahelski’s Highlander reboot, which has British actor Henry Cavill attached for a role, stars shooting.
Lionsgate recently announced that John Wick 4 has been delayed to March 24, 2023.
SOURCE: DEADLINE
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