Devil in the White city 

A killer role that Leonardo DiCaprio has wanted to play for a long time is finally coming to the forefront after Paramount just closed a splashy deal to acquire the Erik Larson book The Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America.

There was a big auction that had five studios chasing and three bidding aggressively–Universal and Fox were the others–before Paramount captured a package that has DiCaprio starring and re-teaming with his The Wolf Of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese. Billy Ray will write the script.

Appian Way’s DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson are producing with Stacey Sher, and Scorsese. This is a big one for recently minted Paramount Film Group president Marc Evans; it’s expected to be the next collaboration for DiCaprio and Scorsese, who’ve made five films together.