Leonardo will play the role of a 19th century serial killer named Dr HH Holmes.
Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is all set to collaborate again with filmmaker Martin Scorsese for The Devil in the White City.
Paramount has won the bid to Erik Larson’s bestselling book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.
The project had been in the works for more than a decade now. Tom Cruise once optioned the book with the intention to star but Leonardo, under his Appian Way production company, bought the rights to the 2003 non-fiction book five years ago.
A recent big auction had five big studios, including Universal and Fox, bidding aggressively for the movie rights to the 2003 non-fiction book.
The Devil in the White City is based on real event of a 19th century serial killer named Dr HH Holmes. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr Holmes was responsible for luring mostly young single women to his World’s Fair Hotel in Chicago and dissecting them.
Leonardo will slip in the role of the most prolific mass murderer back in the days.
Mr Scorsese is directing from the script by Captain Phillips scribe Billy Ray. The film will centre on two main characters, the architect of the World’s Fair, Daniel H Burnham, and Holmes, the man who works for him and is responsible for the death of 27 to 200 people.
The 40-year-old actor is co-producing with his Appian Way partner Jennifer Davisson along with Mr Scorsese, Stacey Sher, and Rick Yorn.
Leonardo and Scorsese had previously worked together in five films including the Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street. Paramount had them locked for The Devil in the White City, which has a seven figure commitment.
