Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Devil in the White City has hit yet another roadblock. Variety reports that Keanu Reeves has exited the project, which was being developed as a Hulu miniseries.
It’s unclear the reason for Reeves’ departure, whether it be scheduling or creative differences. The series is an adaptation of Erik Larson’s book that “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.”
Reeves would have played Burnham in what would’ve been his first major TV series role. It’ll have to wait, though.
Devil in the White City was conceived as a movie directed by Scorsese and starring DiCaprio. After many delays, the project was reconfigured as a series and acquired by Hulu in 2019, then ordered to series earlier this year. An even earlier, pre-DiCaprio version had Tom Cruise attached.
It’s unclear how much this will set things back, but the good news is that it shouldn’t be hard to find somebody to star in a serial killer series. They’re pretty much everywhere now, right?
