It’s a film making partnership that many have compared to the legendary Deniro pairing of the 70s, 80s and 90s, and now comes news that director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio are set to collaborate on their sixth film together, an adaptation of the acclaimed true crime novel, The Devil in the White City.
Dicaprio had long been trying to get the film of the ground, with the project first being mooted as far back as 2004, with the producing team of Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner attached. Multiple iterations of the script have since come and gone, with the current version (penned by Captain Phillips scribe Billy Ray) being sold to Paramount for a pretty penny.
Despite his age, Scorsese remains one of cinema’s most unique voices, and DiCaprio has done some of his best work under the director. Their last film together (The Wolf of Wall Street) was arguably Scorsese’s best since Casino, and probably would have won DiCaprio his first Oscar if it weren’t the year of the infamous McConaissance.
A celebrated actor and director teaming up to bring a hard R-rated crime tale to the multiplexes sounds like a story all too rare in Hollywood nowadays, which is exactly why this news should be welcomed by all who cherish true cinema.
Here is the synopsis for the film, as first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
DiCaprio will play H.H. Holmes, who murdered between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women. Set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, “The Devil in the White City” tells the intertwining stories of fair architect Daniel H. Burnham and Holmes, who used a hotel he built near the fairgrounds to lure his victims.
THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY is yet to receive an official release date.