Leonardo DiCaprio has often used his celebrity to promote environmental causes important to him, producing documentaries such as The 11th Hour, Catching the Sun, Cowspiracy, and Virunga. Heh…Cowspiracy. Anyway, the actor is flexing his producing muscle on a narrative project that reflects his values, and he’s hired a director who promises to get it some added attention.
DiCaprio has brought on director Edward Berger for his adaptation of Jack Ewing’s book Faster Higher Farther: The Inside Story of the Volkswagen Scandal, which deals with the 2015 Clean Diesel emissions scandal. Ooooh…exciting?? Berger is coming off the acclaimed Patrick Melrose series which earned five Emmy nominations. He’s one of the most sought-after filmmakers around, and it means DiCaprio is taking this film very seriously. He wouldn’t put something like this in anybody’s hands.
That said, good luck to Berger in trying to spruce up the story of Volkswagen’s cheating the EPA during fuel emissions tests. When their plan was discovered it sent VW’s stocks plunging, their CEO was forced to resign, and it cost more than $30B in repairs and fines.
Berger is currently working on the film Rio, which reunites him with Patrick Melrose star Benedict Cumberbatch. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them collaborate again very soon, possibly on this. [Collider]
