Here's Why Leonardo DiCaprio Has to Testify in a 'Wolf of Wall Street' Lawsuit

He may be the King of the World, but Leonardo DiCaprio still has to answer to The Man. In this case, DiCaprio is having his Oscar-winning tush hauled into court to testify in a $25 million defamation lawsuit, filed by a guy who is portrayed in "The Wolf of Wall Street." Since DiCaprio was a producer on the film, in addition to playing Jordan Belfort, he is being forced to talk about how the sausage was made.

The man suing is Andrew Greene, who says the character based on him -- Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff (P.J. Byrne) -- is (as E! News described it) "a toupee-wearing loser with no morals who abused drugs and loved prostitutes, which [Greene] claims has damaged his reputation to the tune of $15 million and caused his fiancée to leave him."

Here's the character in question:

(Side note: Isn't every guy in the film depicted as a depraved, immoral, drug-and-hooker-loving, crazy rich Wall Street dbag? Wasn't that the point? Should they all sue?)

Apparently Leo tried to dodge involvement, since the defendants pointed out that director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter already gave testimony, plus Leo didn't write the script, and he wasn't involved in the "Rugrat" scenes. So what did they want from him?

Well, according to the court docs referenced by E!, Greene's lawyers said Leo was a "driving force" behind the film and was "knowledgeable regarding significant issues in this case." Leo claimed he was too busy to testify, but that was shot down as well; Greene's team said Leo has been able to travel between U.S. coasts for other stuff, so he can do this, too.

The judge agreed with Greene's team, and said Leo's deposition will take place at a "reasonable time and place" agreed to by both sides.


After that decision, Green's lawyer took a shot at Leo in a rather gloating statement to E!: "We are glad that the Judge recognized Mr. DiCaprio's evasiveness and look forward to continuing our pursuit of justice for Mr. Greene. We are very pleased with the testimony coming forward from all kinds of witnesses so far in depositions."

It's still not clear how much Leo is going to add to this that hasn't already been said by the screenwriter and director. But now it's an A-list court case worthy of popcorn viewing whenever he does testify.

Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.



from Moviefone News RSS Feed - Moviefone.com http://ift.tt/28K2UUC
via IFTTT