Los Angeles, Jan 28 (IANS): "Don's Plum" - the controversial Leonardo DiCaprio-starring film, which failed to make it to the theatres, was released online. But soon, it was pulled off.

"Don's Plum" was streamed for free on Freedonsplum.com, but was quickly taken down on Wednesday after a third-party notification by DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The indie film was largely made of improvisations. DiCaprio, Maguire and Kevin Connolly shot the indie film in the mid-1990s around the time DiCaprio had claimed his fame through "Romeo & Juliet" as well as "Titanic". It follows a group of young people being rowdy at a Hollywood diner over one night.

Two years after the production of the film was completed, producer David Stutman filed a lawsuit against DiCaprio and Maguire for carrying out "a fraudulent and coercive campaign to prevent release of the film".

Maguire feared his improvised performance "revealed personal experiences or tendencies". In DiCaprio's argument, the project was supposed to be a short film, but it was eventually edited to be a feature film.

Years went on without the film being released, but producer Dale Wheatley decided it was time the film to be out of the closet.

"Although the film remains banned in the US and Canada, as a writer and producer I am making the film available under my copyright for the sole purpose of promoting my work as an independent filmmaker," Wheatley wrote in a statement on the website.

In 2014, Wheatley also wrote a lengthy open letter to DiCaprio whom he accused of being "publically and unapologetically shamed his director and then went on to destroy his work".