Leonardo DiCaprio is *NOT* making a movie about the VW emissions test scandal

 

Leo DiCaprio is *NOT* turning the Volkswagen emissions scandal into a feature movie; the GRIST story was pure unfactcheced Hollywood hype: HERE is the inside skinny...

Suzanne Jacobs got it wrong! GRIST got it wrong.

You see, a publisher named Transworld Publishers have pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights to Jack Ewing's hotly-anticipated account of the Volkswagen emissions-fixing scandal. That's all there is to this story. Not a movie story, just a book story, with a film option that is just a tax write off for DiCaprio and not a real offer to make a movie. Read on:

 

Author Jack Ewing is the European business and economics correspondent for the New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, and he has been covering the VW story since it broke in September 2015. 

Henry Vines, commissioning editor at Transworld, acquired the rights in the as-yet-untitled book and INWRITTEN BOOK from Andrew Gordon at David Higham Associates on behalf of Marly Rusoff & Associates.  'I am thrilled to be working with Jack Ewing on this project,' says Vines. 'This will be an eye-opening, inside account of one of the biggest news stories of the year, and one of the most significant corporate scandals of our time.' THE book might be publshed in 2017 or 2018 or 2019. There will NEVER be a movie. 

The BOOK deal follows the -- ahem -- ''announcement'' that Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, has ''optioned'' films rights to the project, in partnership with Paramount Pictures.  All that means is that the literary agent and the publisher offered the book sight unseen and unread, since it has not even been written yet, to Paramount Studios who brough in DiCaprio's banner operation to invest some tax write off money to get an option to make a movie, even though there is no BOOK yet and no SCREENPLAY yet, and Leonardo can renew the opton year after year if he weats and the option can remain in play for 20 years without a movie ever getting made. See? This is all an investment to keep other rival prodocers from getting the film rights, so Leonardo has it swed up for now, but ThAT DOES NOT MEAN A MOVIE WILL EVER GET MADE. US books rights have sold to Norton, with further deals expected to be announced shortly. 

For further information please contact Sarah Harwood SHarwood@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk  in the UK, if you want to know the God's Honest Truth about this NON-SToRY about a Hollywood movie.

The only real news now is that NYT reporter Ewing sold a book proposal to a publisher for  a MAJOR BOOK DEAL in the US$500,000 level of advances, and that Leonardo used his huge cash reserves to buy up the film rights JUST TO KEEP other rival producers at bay, including Michael Bay, and he can do this for as long as he has the money to keep the film option alive in his corner.

But there is no movie deal. There is no director attavched. no actors attached, no screenwriter attached. THi is how the Hollywood trade papers operate, dealing with whats nd ifs and maybes. 99 percent of these stories lead nowhere. This VW MOVIE will never get made. Might become a documentary but NOT a feature movie.

GET ME REWRITE!

Remember that Volkswagen scandal? The one where every nostalgic flower child’s favorite car company betrayed the world by cheating on emissions tests, dumping hundreds of thousands of secret pollutants into an already toxic atmosphere, and causing millions in healthcare damages? Hollywood is rumored to be already all over it, but in fact the rumors are wrong. Leonardo DiCaprio is NOT making a movie about the VW affair. Repeat: NOT.

Yes, it's true, Paramount stuido execs have acquired the rights to a book about the VW scandal but that nonfiction book has not even been written yet.
Is Leo DiCaprio already on board to produce, along with Jennifer Davisson Killoran? No. It's just PR hype from the book publisher, the author's agent and Paramount. To attact investors re money. Hollywood uses PR like this to whip up future money people. That's all this is. A trial balloon. Hot air. Don't fall for everything you read from Hollow-wood!

There will never be a movie about this scandal. Sorry, Suzanne. Recheck your sources. Good story and well written, yes, but based on Hwood hype.

Sure, when Grist spoke with film buff and environmental activist Narayana Angulo earlier this summer of 2015, he did bemoan the lack of narrative films about environmental issues. There are plenty of documentaries out there, he said, but not much in the way of feature films. But he had not seen the The ''Cli Fi'' Movie Awards homepage yet for more info at: http://korgw101.blogspot.com

You see, a publisher named Transworld Publishers have pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights to Jack Ewing's hotly-anticipated account of the Volkswagen emissions-fixing scandal. That's all there is to this story. Not a movie story, just a book story, with a film option that is just a tax write off for DiCaprio and not a real offer to make a movie. Read on:

 

Author Jack Ewing is the European business and economics correspondent for the New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, and he has been covering the VW story since it broke in September 2015. 

Henry Vines, commissioning editor at Transworld, acquired the rights in the as-yet-untitled book from Andrew Gordon at David Higham Associates on behalf of Marly Rusoff & Associates.  'I am thrilled to be working with Jack Ewing on this project,' says Vines. 'This will be an eye-opening, inside account of one of the biggest news stories of the year, and one of the most significant corporate scandals of our time.' 

The deal follows the ''announcement'' that Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, has ''optioned'' films rights to the project, in partnership with Paramount Pictures.  All that means is that the literary agent and the publisher offered the book sight unseen and unread, since it has not even been written yet, to Patamount Studios who brough in DiCaprio's banner operation to invest some tax write off money to get an option to make a movie, even though there is no BOOK yet and no SCREENPLAY yet, and Leonardo can renew the opton year after year if he weats and the option can remain in play for 20 years without a movie ever getting made. See? This is all an investment to keep other rival prodocers from getting the film rights, so Leonardo has it swed up for now, but ThAT DOES NOT MEAN A MOVIE WILL EVER GET MADE. US books rights have sold to Norton, with further deals expected to be announced shortly. 

For further information please contact Sarah Harwood at SHarwood@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk  in the UK, if you want to know the God's Honest Truth about this NON-SToRY about a Hollywood movie. The only real news now is that NYT reporter Ewing sold a book proposal to a publisher for  a MAJOR BOOK DEAL in the US$500,000 level of advances, and that Leonardo used his huge cash reserves to buy up the film rights JUST TO KEEP other rival producers at bay, including Michael Bay, and he can do this for as long as he has the money to keep the film option alive in his corner.

But there is no movie deal. There is no director attavched. no actors attached, no screenwriter attached. THi is how the Hollywood trade papers operate, dealing with whats nd ifs and maybes. 99 percent of these stories lead nowhere. This VW MOVIE will never get made. Might become a documentary but NOT a feature movie.

GET ME REWRITE!

http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/61653/nl