DiCaprio Plans To Make Volkswagen Scandal Film

Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the rights to a yet-to-be-written book about the Volkswagen emissions scandal, with an eye toward producing a film about the firm’s attempt to deceive regulators, a media report said.

More recently, Paramount pictures bought a proposal for a film by author Jack Ewing, who has been covering the scandal for New York Times.

Here is a quick summary: the German automaker was caught for cheating the emissions tests for their “clean diesel” cars using “defeat device” software so it would meet the required European standards during tests. The publishing rights for the book sold for mid-six figures.

Volkswagen has recalled nearly 500,000 cars in the United States alone and it has set aside 7 billion U.S. dollars to cover costs.

It is unclear when the movie might surface, if at all, and even less clear if DiCaprio will help produce it or actually be one of its stars (the latter would certainly help with box office appeal). His Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has funded more than $30 million in grants to global conservation initiatives, and the actor has received numerous accolades for his environmental work, including the Clinton Global Citizen Award and the Mediation Division Award from Prince Albert of Monaco. This dieselgate scandal being made into a movie follows on the same lines as the 1972 Watergate scandal which also went on to be made into a movie following publishing of a book on the issue.