It doesn’t sound very exciting. But Leonardo diCaprio is going to produce a movie for Paramount about the current Volkswagen diesel scandal. I think he should call it “Meet the Beetles.”
diCaprio is an avowed environmentalist, so this obviously interests him. Dramatically, I’m not sure how much the movie going audience wants to see a bunch of Germans plotting to change computer codes in a fraction of their autos.
But maybe it will be told from an American dealer’s point of view. Or an animated film with a lot of cute VW Beetles discussing how they’ve been tampered with.
The movie is going to be based on as yet unwritten book, based on a book proposal by New York Times journalist Jack Ewing. So that will be quite a while from now. We’re still waiting for the movie about the Firestone tire scandal, and that at least posed more of a danger to the general public. Michael Douglas is attached to produce that movie. He’s too old to star in it, now. That’s how long it’s taken.
If I were Leo, I’d film a documentary while Ewing writes his book. That’s the movie. Otherwise the whole thing will seem a little Passat by the time he makes a feature. Passat, get it?
