Mike Fleming says
Leonardo DiCaprio 'is going to play one of the most prolific serial killers in Chicago history, the 19th Century equivalent of Hannibal Lecter' in an adaptation of Erik Larson's 2003 non-fiction book
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America. His name was
Dr. HH Holmes (no relation to either me, or Sherlock), perhaps the first incarnation of a modern day serial killer and a truly evil bastard who may be responsible for the deaths of anywhere between 27 and 200 people during Chicago's World Fair. His victims were mostly young women. He had the wit of a Hannibel Lecter but the guile and charm of a Norman Bates in luring his victims to his own self-built 'Bates Motel' style inn that became known as a 'murder castle' and which lives on in infamy as housing a gas chamber, crematorium and a dissecting table, where he would chop up the remains to sell for medical research.
But I wonder, how can Fleming be so sure that DiCaprio will make this? The problem with A-list actors when they become wealthy men is that they buy the rights to every property they have the slightest desire in potentially starring in. And because that number of projects can hit half a dozen a year and they are only be able to make maybe one or two of them, great potential material can and often does, sit and gather dust for years. Yes it is true that DiCaprio and his production company Appian Way have bought the rights to the novel after
David Fincher decided to snub an
Eric Roth-scripted adaptation in favour of making the more contemporary (but fictional) serial killer thriller
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But we should also remind ourselves that for years DiCaprio has held the rights to properties such as
The Twilight Zone and is never in a rush to see them made. There's always a Clint Eastwood that will come along with a
Hoover biopic, or a Chris Nolan with the offer of an
Inception.
Though there are reasons, I guess, to think this one might be made. Seven years ago, DiCaprio became so fascinated with Holmes that he setup a rival film to
Tom Cruise's (who held the life rights) biopic, but unlike the Cruise-meister he had to rely on public domain material and it proved a difficult case to crack. Now that those rights have expired, DiCaprio has swopped in and announced his intention to not only produce but also star in this adaptation. A writer will soon be sought, and then a director, before they take the property to a studio. Potentially then, Fincher, whose Zodiac was as immensely researched, methodical and equally as fascinating a portrayal of a serial killer existing in a time of expansion, could still end up making it, but he will have to compete with
Martin Scorsese if he is still interested as DiCaprio is likely to give him first refusal. Here's hoping this won't be the last time I speak of this project in the coming months as I so often do with DiCaprio's buys.