Just two months ago, the streaming service Hulu announced that “Matrix” star Keanu Reeves (58) would play a leading role in the planned TV series of the horror bestseller “The Devil in the White City”.
But now the actor (“John Wick”) has jumped from the project, reported “Variety” and “Hollywood Reporter”. It would have been his first major series role. The reason was not initially known.
The series is based on the non-fiction book “The Devil in the White City” by author Erik Larson, which was published in Germany in 2004 under the title “Der Teufel von Chicago”. While preparations are underway in Chicago for the 1893 World’s Fair, in which star architect Daniel H. Burnham is involved, a psychopath becomes a serial killer. The physician H.H. Holmes lures dozens of women into a torture house disguised as a hotel.
Leonardo DiCaprio had already secured the filming rights for the bestseller in 2010. In 2015, actor-director Martin Scorsese first announced plans for a feature film starring DiCaprio as the killer. They are still on board as producers for the TV format.
Hulu greenlit the series in August with Reeves playing ambitious architect Burnham. Todd Field (“Tár”, “Little Children”) has agreed to direct it.
