You know you’re talking about a major scandal when Hollywood’s finest want to do a movie adaptation out of it.
The so called “Dieselgate” scandal is the biggest crisis in Volkswagen’s 78-year history and undoubtedly hides some juicy highlights that could look godd on the big screen. Apparently, the German car manufacturer’s way of tempering with its diesel automobiles in order to pass emission tests sparked interest from Paramount Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company.
In fact, Variety reports that Paramount has acquired the movie rights to an upcoming book – written by New York Times reporter Jack Ewing – which details the scandal that made Volkswagen notorious for using “defeat devices” and hiding as much as 40 times more pollution than allowed by the law. The publishing rights for the book sold for mid-six figures.
Apart for damaging the Wolfsburg-based car maker’s reputation, the situation wiped out more than a third off the company’s share price, as Volkswagen is currently facing up to $18 billion in fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It isn’t known yet if Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the movie, or when the film will be released. Even so, DiCaprio’s company producing credits include “The Wolf Of Wall Street” and the upcoming “The Reverent”.
Well, the “Dieselgate” denomination seems to make sense now, as it appears to follow a timeline similar to that of the original 1972 Watergate scandal – which also received a movie adaptation, after a book covering the event was published.
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