Leonardo has come on board to produce the movie along with Jennifer Davisson through their Appian Way banner.
- October 13, 2015
AceShowbiz -
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson have come on board to produce film on Volkswagen's clean diesel scandal for Paramount. The pair are producing through their Appian Way banner. There are no acting nor directing attachments yet.
According to Variety, Paramount has acquired movie rights to Jack Ewing's upcoming book, which will detail the scandal that led to the resignation of Volkswagen Group's CEO Martin Winterkorn and shook up the global automobile market.
The story follows the events of the scandal in which the company "placed illegal software in their clean diesel cars that could tell when a car was being tested for fuel emissions and would turn on the emissions control to cheat the test and meet EPA standards. During normal driving conditions, emission control software was shut off - resulting in as much as 40 times more pollution than allowed by law."
Volkswagen is currently facing up to $18 billion in fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Publishing rights for the book proposal sold for mid-six figures to Norton. The movie rights was bought by Liz Raposo at Paramount Pictures.
Leonardo's producing credits included "The Wolf of Wall Street", "Runner Runner" and "Out of the Furnace". He will be seen next in upcoming biographical western thriller "The Revenant" along with Tom Hardy and Will Poulter.
