'Devil in the White City' Loses 'TÁR' Manager Todd Field Days After Keanu Reeves Departs

After more than a decade in development, it looked like Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's TV adaptation of Erik Larson's "The Devil in White Town" was finally beginning to take shape. The series, which had been in the works at Hulu since 2019, announced that Keanu Reeves was set to play legendary Chicago World's Fair architect Daniel H. Burnham, along with "TÁR" director Todd Field. producer and director of all episodes.

But the project quickly began to fall apart, with Reeves leaving the show last week. Now, the project has been hit with another creative blow, as Variety first reported that Field also dropped out. It would have marked the continuation of a triumphant comeback for Field, who received rave reviews on the festival circuit for 'TÁR', his first feature film since 2006's 'Little Children'.

Representatives for Hulu have confirmed to IndieWire that Todd Field will no longer be directing the series, while declining to comment further. Representatives for Field could not immediately be reached for comment.

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It seems the loss of Reeves and Field wasn't enough to kill the project, as the Variety report says the producers are now looking for a new director to helm the series. And this is far from the first setback the project has faced. When DiCaprio first acquired the rights to Larson's book - about the murderous spree of serial killer H.H. Holmes against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair - in 2010, he envisioned it as a feature film. . At one point he was to star with Martin Scorsese to direct, although they both eventually stepped down while remaining attached as executive producers.

The official logline for "Devil in the White City" describes the show as telling "the true story of Daniel H. Burnham, a demanding yet visionary architect who races to make history with the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and Dr. H.H. Holmes, America's first modern serial killer and the man behind the famous "Murder Castle" built in the shadow of the Fair."

The series is far from the only upcoming project Scorsese and DiCaprio have in the works. Frequent collaborators reunite on two nonfiction book adaptations by David Grann: “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which is slated to hit theaters next year; and “The Wager,” an in-development shipwreck drama.

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