Leonardo DiCaprio and Netflix team up for green documentaries
David Farnor | On 05, Mar 2015
Leonardo DiCaprio and Netflix are teaming up to develop environmental documentaries following the success of Virunga.
The documentary, which follows the efforts of conservationist staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect endangered mountain gorillas, was produced by the Titanic and Wolf of Wall Street star and went on to pick up an Oscar nomination this year.
Now, the actor and philanthropist has announced that he (via his production company, Appian Way) will partner with the VOD service on forthcoming documentary and docu-series projects.
The agreement is part of a First Look deal for non-fiction projects to premiere exclusively on Netflix. Under the terms of the multi-year deal, Netflix and DiCaprio will work together to identify and develop potential projects, with a particular focus on environmental and conservation themes, including original documentaries and docu-series, as well as acquired existing projects. DiCaprio will serve as producer or executive producer for all projects launched through the partnership.
“Working with Netflix on Virunga has sparked a shared vision about projects that we want to develop and bring to viewers,” said DiCaprio.
“There’s never been a more critical time for our planet or more of a need for gifted storytellers to help us all make sense of the issues we face. Through this partnership with Netflix, I hope to give documentary film-makers doing urgent and important work the chance to have their films seen immediately by audiences all around the world.”
“This partnership is a natural extension of our incredible relationship with Leo on Virunga,” agreed Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.
“We look forward to building on our shared success with more thought-provoking, high-quality documentaries and docu-series.”
You can read our review of Virunga here.