"The Revenant" star Leonardo DiCaprio will highlight the recent behind-the-scenes happenings of the Volkswagen emission fraud on film, as the actor's production company, Appian Way together with Paramount Pictures, purchased the rights to a still-to-be-written book about the unethical act.
According to the BBC, it is still to be decided if DiCaprio will star in the film or who will pen the script. The move comes as no surprise to DiCaprio fans as the "Inception" actor has produced a number of documentaries based on the environment, including the 2014 film "Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret" and "Virunga," which deals with the struggle to save the last of the world's mountain gorillas.
New York Times journalist Jack Ewing, who is behind the book proposal about the Volkswagen scandal, will explore the "more, better, faster'' ethos and how it played out into the scandal, The Guardian reported.
The German car manufacturer last month admitted to 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide being fitted with a device that is capable of defeating emission tests.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), discovered that many Volkswagen cars being sold had devices in their diesel engines that could detect when tests were being carried out, while the device would change its performance accordingly, to improve results.
Despite some vehicles emitting 40 times more than the standard limit, the device was capable of allowing vehicles to pass the lab test. Following the disclosure, Volkswagen Chief Executive, Martin Winterkorn resigned from his post, while the car company recalled more than 400,000 cars, in the United States alone.
Meanwhile, the environmentally conscience, Oscar nominee has recently signed a deal with Netflix to produce a program comprising of green-themed documentaries.It is reported, that up-to-date DiCaprio's environmental foundation has donated more than $30 million in grants, since its inception in 1998.