Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Devil on the Silver Screen

We learn from Omnimystery News: Leonardo DiCaprio Acquires Film Rights to The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Devil in the White City, of course, is the bestselling non-fiction book about serial killer H. H. Holmes and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

DiCaprio’s involvement means a big budget but that has never been a guarantee of success. We are hopeful that the right director and screenwriter will save this excellent book from the dismal treatment Hollywood gives most bestsellers. But Leonardo DiCaprio (who Kate Winslet described as  “A big girl’s blouse.”) as H.H. Holmes? Dubious.

What do you think?

5 comments :

Little Black Car says:
November 3, 2010 at 12:29 PM

Dubious, but more because of the format of the book.

I thought that the parts about the World's Fair were far more interesting than the parts about Holmes, in large part because there is so much information on the Fair and so little on the killer (or so much of it seems like speculation). I can't imagine, though, that Hollywood will want to keep that balance since how many viewers are geeks like me who would rather hear about the artists and architects than the murderer?

So, I assume it will be heavily sensationalized in the name of entertainment, when it really would be better served as a documentary.

Donald says:
November 3, 2010 at 9:32 PM

I loved the book. I had been interested in the columbian exposition for a long time and found out more details listening to this book than in all my research. I cant imagine a movie being better but you never know

Robert Wilhelm says:
November 4, 2010 at 12:10 PM

It's the balance between the two stories that keeps the book interesting. The fact that the stories never really intersect will be a challange for filmmakers. I'm guessing they will make the H. H. Holmes story and hope the title brings in a higher class audience.

Anonymous says:
November 10, 2010 at 7:20 PM

movies of books with this much detail, are always disappointing....

Anonymous says:
March 8, 2011 at 7:46 AM

I am interested by what Little Black Car said as I styrongly believe there is a connection between the happeneings of the columbian fair, the Century of Progress Fair, the Star Aractus(spelling) and Dr H.H. Holmes actions please study the fairs. Let me know what you think. Also what led the 4 of you to post a comment when you did as the first three were posted within 24 hours and the next 6 dyas later.

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