Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

    It's the non-fiction book written by Lars Larson (loved it), centered around the 1893 World's Fair and HH Holmes who is considered America's first serial killer. Kathryn Bigelow was interested in it back in 2006 I think, does anyone know if an adaptation was ever written?
    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

  • #2
    Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

    It's an Eric Roth adaptation, and Fincher is hoping to direct.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

      I didn't see anything in Studio System about Roth or Fincher being involved; Fincher is attached to direct TORSO, which is another serial killer project.

      Far as I can tell, Paramount re-optioned the rights in 2007 with Double Feature Films.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

        I found conflicting and old information here and there too. Confusing -- it's such a great book.

        But even the topic of HH Holmes by himself -- I wonder why this true story hasn't been grabbed for the screen.
        Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

          Ditto. It's incredible. That guy was more twisted than Ed Gein, smarter and more devious. Why haven't they done anything yet?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

            Paramount owns the rights, but they're just sitting on it. There's a 2005 draft written by Christopher Kyle. PM me if you want it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

              Originally posted by Jenny View Post
              Paramount owns the rights, but they're just sitting on it. There's a 2005 draft written by Christopher Kyle. PM me if you want it.
              Oh - cool! PM on the way.
              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                Originally posted by carcar View Post
                Ditto. It's incredible. That guy was more twisted than Ed Gein, smarter and more devious. Why haven't they done anything yet?
                I did find a bio documentary: HH Holmes - America's First Serial Killer, but I can't believe no one's done a feature film.

                They keep revisting Jack the Ripper in some form or another meanwhile, HH Holmes likely tortured and killed more women right there in his boarding house while guests came and went. Also -- the investigator who finally tracked him down across country (and got the evidence to convict Holmes) is a great "good guy" role with lots of pathos.

                In a script I'm working on -- a young female servant gets inspired at the Chicago World's Fair and decides to go west to claim a homestead -- I inserted a Holmes-like character in one scene at the fair where he tries to drag her off. Just my little inside nod at Holmes no one will notice. But I'd love to write another script strictly about Holmes.
                Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                  Years ago (like 2004/5 ish?) I heard that Tom Cruise was involved/attached as a producer and possible star. There are 2 lead roles in the story and I was truly hoping he'd go for the serial killer part ... too bad that seems to have died on the vine, it does seem like Paramount is just sitting on it.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                    There's a great Robert Bloch novel about the same story.

                    - Bill
                    Free Script Tips:
                    http://www.scriptsecrets.net

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                      Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
                      There's a great Robert Bloch novel about the same story.

                      - Bill
                      Thanks... I knew someone already went there, just not who.
                      "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

                      My YouTube channel.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                        Not read the book but I'm aware of this story and HH Holmes after researching serial killers on Wikipedia a ways back..

                        Wasn't this guy responsible for running a guest house during the World's Fair in Chicago, complete with secret trap doors, hidden behind walls paraphernalia much like a fun house but indeed used to kill the guests - mainly women?

                        What about Albert Fish?

                        Albert Fish: AKA the "Werewolf of Wisteria" or the "Grey Man"; sadist and pedophile who cannibalized several children; convicted of one murder, confessed to 2 others,claimed to have molested 100 children.

                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish
                        Some of the stuff he used to do to his victims is well outrageous..

                        I read he used to put ads in the paper, looking for youths to work on his non-existant farm and visit their homes once these folk had contacted him by mail with the view of luring them away to murder them.. He did this with one family, he was even invited into one family home and befriended the younger daughter, offered to take her to a children's party and then prompty killed her and ate her..

                        Yuk! What a nasty bugger!!

                        There's a documentary about Fish as well.. Sure I've seen this on a web site some place..

                        And a movie has been made about this character and subject in 2007..
                        The Gray Man (2007)
                        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478329/

                        A dedicated detective tries to capture Albert Fish, a serial killer who abducts, abuses, kills, and occasionally eats children, leaving no trace behind. Will the obsessive manhunt across several states succeed in apprehending the killer? Albert Fish, one of the earliest known serial killers of 20th century America, is the subject of this movie. A true cannibal. Compared to Albert Fish, Hannibal Lecter was a saint. Yet, this is definitely not your average horror movie. If you crave gratuitous violence, you 'd better look elsewhere. Rather, this is the story of the hunter versus the hunted. Albert Fish leaves clues at the crime scene that the detective must follow. Soon enough, this is getting personal, a veritable clash of personalities.

                        The shocking true story of Albert Fish, the most monstrous yet least known serial killer in the history of true crime in America. In 1928, the angelic 10-year-old Grace Budd is abducted by a kindly old grandfather and never seen again. After scouring the country for her for six years, detectives finally arrest Albert Fish for her kidnapping but are unprepared for the horrors they are about to uncover... Aged 55 when the film opens, Hamilton Fish, aka Albert Fish, is the father of six grown children whom he has raised on his own after his wife abandoned the family to run off with their boarder. A compulsive liar and letter writer, Fish corresponds with women through "friendship" magazines, woos several under false pretenses, and even marries a few -- even though he is still technically married to his first wife -- but eventually repulsing all of them with his sexual perversions. Having always struggled with leading his life according to his religious convictions, Fish now teeters on the brink of complete surrender to his sadomasochistic tendencies. It is the kidnapping of Grace Budd that leads to his downfall. When he is finally arrested, the authorities discover a trail of murder, mutiliation and cannibalism. Fish is found guilty despite overwhelming evidence of his insanity, and promptly sentenced to die in the electric chair. [D-Man2010]
                        What about 10 Rillington Place?

                        10 Rillington Place (1971)
                        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066730/

                        After subletting his upstairs London flat to a mentally deficient young man named Timothy Evans and his pregnant wife Beryl, John Christie announces to the impoverished Evans that he is an accomplished abortionist and agrees to perform the illegal operation on Beryl in order to help them out of their jam. Aroused by the sight of her naked and unconscious form, however, Christie rapes and strangles her instead, then convinces the half-witted Evans that although she died from surgery, the police will probably believe Evans guilty of foul play and charge him with murder. Evans flees but is caught, tried, convicted of murder, and hanged. Based on the true story of British mass-murderer John Reginald Christie, who drugged, raped, and strangled eight women (one of whom was his wife) between 1940 and 1953, hiding their bodies in the garden as well as in a large cupboard, which he then covered up with wallpaper inside his home. A shy and sickly man (he was gassed during World War I), Christie could also be quite persuasive, which explains how he was able to lure many of his victims to his murderous lair at 10 Rillington Place, an address that eventually became as well-known to Londoners as 10 Downing Street
                        I have the movie on DVD adapted from book Ludovic Kennedy (1961). Ten Rillington Place. London: Victor Gollancz. starring Richard Attenbourgh, 10 Rillington Place and the Christie serial killings he did in his house also on his tenants.. Horrible and creepy story but Dicky Attenbourgh's performance as Christie is outstanding - frightening as fvck!! If you haven't seen it you should check it out..

                        These are seriously creepy individuals.. The trouble is they make great antagonists in stories - pure evil ones.. The fact they actually existed and committed these terrible crimes beggers belief..

                        Wonder what goes through their warped minds?

                        Great subject material for screenplays though..

                        The story about HH Holmes has been dying to be told.. Hehe..

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                          Wow. All those sick creeps.

                          Re: Devil in The White City. I think the problem with adapting that book is the alternating chapters about the Chicago Fair and Holmes never interconnect in reality/plotwise.

                          Outside of the author's theory that Holmes may have found some victims at the fair. Apparently, after reading Jenny's great review of the script on Ducky's blog (I'm still going to read the script), the existing script had to invent a connection between the "lead" in the Fair story and Holmes.

                          I think there's a wealth of material on the Holmes story alone with a natural 3rd act, more than enough to stand on it's own. You'd only have to compress time a bit because Holmes killed unfettered for years before anyone was even suspicious of him.

                          My issue -- Larson, in his non-fiction book, put in a lot of details I haven't seen anywhere else. And though Holmes, as a real criminal, should be a character up for grabs, would there be an issue in using the Larson book as research only without getting permission/rights to his book? I mean, Larson himself used other books and news articles for his research.

                          Of course, if I take on writing a script about Holmes, that would mean I'm up to 4 concurrent scripts in progress.
                          Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                            The Gray Man had some of the worst acting I've seen recently. Just terrible.
                            "Only nothing is impossible."
                            - Grant Morrison

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Has the book "Devil In The White City" been adapted for screen yet?

                              Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                              ...would there be an issue in using the Larson book as research only without getting permission/rights to his book? ....
                              This is an issue for me in a script I'm doing (not on this subject). I've previously been told I would likely need permission/rights, but I'm interested in any other thoughts/ideas/comments on the question.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X