Paramount has won the bid to Erik Larson's bestselling book "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America", reported Deadline.
The project had been in the works for more than a decade. Tom Cruise once optioned the book with the intention to star but DiCaprio, under his Appian Way production company, bought the rights to the 2003 non-fiction book five years ago. A recent big auction had five big studios, including Universal and Fox, bidding aggressively for the movie rights to the 2003 non-fiction book.
DiCaprio will slip in the role of the most prolific mass murderer back in the days.
Scorsese is directing from the script by "Captain Phillips" scribe Billy Ray. The film will center on two main characters, the producer/architect of the World's Fair, Daniel H Burnham, and Holmes, the man who works for him and is responsible for the death of 27 to 200 people.
DiCaprio and Scorsese had previously worked together in five films including the Oscar-nominated "The Wolf of Wall Street". Paramount had them locked for "The Devil in the White City", which has a seven figure commitment.