DiCaprio And Paramount Studios To Produce Film About VW's Diesel Scandal
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Here’s an interesting turn of events for the monstrous cheating emissions crisis that has bewildered the biggest automaker in the world by sales after the first six months, Germany’s Volkswagen AG.
The clean diesel scandal – also nicknamed “dieselgate” – while still under development – has already been optioned by Hollywood as a possible film adaptation of the entire shenanigan. Paramount Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way have decided to option the rights to a book that has not even been written or given a title, to be written by New York Times journalist Jack Ewing and revolving around the still ongoing scandal. Volkswagen Ag was caught cheating by the US Environmental Protection Agency and last month the German carmaker has admitted to rigging diesel-powered vehicles to pass emissions testing. It also acknowledged the illegal software has been fitted to 11 million autos from its most important mass-market brands (VW, Skoda, Seat) as well as luxury marquee Audi and sold around the world for years.
Ewing’s still untitled book is now set to explore the “more, better, faster” credo that played the card of the world’s largest automaker and how the pressure played a role in the scandal. Long running chief executive officer Martin Winterkorn resigned last month even as he claimed to have no prior knowledge about the hacked software that fouled emissions tests. DiCaprio, which is an active environmentalist, has been attached as a producer to the project, which currently lacks a cast or a director.
