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Actor begins plans to make Volkswagen scandal into movie

Leonardo Dicaprio is reportedly jumping on the opportunity to make a movie about the Volkswagen emissions scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio

‘Wolf of Wall Street’ actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, has jumped at the chance to make a movie about the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal.

He will be producing a big screen version of a yet-to-be released book dubbed 'the Too Big To Fail of the auto industry' for Paramount.

Paramount snapped up the film rights to the work by author Jack Ewing that will document how the German car company got away for years with what is regarded by The Hollywood Reporter as 'one of the greatest frauds in corporate history.'

DiCaprio, 40, will produce the film through his Appian Way production company and it's not yet known whether he intends to star in it.

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The actor has produced two of his recent box office appearances, including The Wolf Of Wall Street and the upcoming The Revenant.

Volkswagen is facing up to $18 billion in fines from the US Environmental Protection Agency over the decision to install software in its diesel vehicles that would turn on emissions controls on the engine when it detected the car was being tested in order to cheat the emissions tests.

Millions of people have been driving the company's 'clean diesel' vehicles thinking they were helping the environment by doing so.

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In fact, the engines were emitting emissions up to 40 times higher than regulations required.

The story would appear to be a good fit for DiCaprio who is an ardent environmentalist and donates millions of dollars through his foundation to help the work of activists and organizations in protecting the planet.

The cheating revelation forced the resignation of Volkswagon CEO Martin Winterkorn and sparked a string of lawsuits as well as putting the future of the company in doubt.

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