Leonardo DiCaprio must give evidence in a ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ defamation lawsuit.
The 41-year-old actor has been ordered to give a deposition in court as part of Andrew Greene’s case against the producers of the 2013 movie about real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort.
Greene is seeking $25 million for defamation as he claims the wig-wearing character Nicky ‘Rugrat’ Koskoff – who was played by B.J. Byrne – was based on him with his nickname ‘Wigwam’ changed to rug rat.
Greene has brought his suit against Paramount Pictures, Red Granite Pictures, DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions and Sikelia Productions.
Greene’s lawyers want to question DiCaprio as he co-produced the movie, and they believe he was privy to inside information about the characters who were in the film.
They said he was a "driving force" behind getting the project made and is "knowledgeable regarding significant issues in this case".
Greene claims it is obvious the character is based on him and that his character is portrayed as morally dubious.
The suits says: "The motion picture’s scenes concerning Mr. Greene were false, defamatory, and fundamentally injurious to Mr. Greene’s professional reputation, both as an attorney and as an investment banker/venture capitalist, as well as his personal reputation."
Judge Steven Locke granted a motion to compel DiCaprio’s deposition. Originally DiCaprio stated he was "too busy" to testify.
The Hollywood A-lister was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Belfort in Martin Scorsese’s movie.
The movie was based on Belfort’s memoir of the same name.
The news comes just days after Dana Giacchetto, a disgraced former stockbroker who DiCaprio reportedly took inspiration for his ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ character, was found dead at 53.
Leonardo DiCaprio to give evidence in Wolf of Wall Street defamation case
