Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to get all currents events-y with The Blood Diamond, the next film from Ed Zwick, Hollywood’s official racially-sensitive white guy. Zwick, of course, has directed such diverse fare as Glory, The Last Samurai and The Siege.
The Blood Diamond will bring Zwick (and possibly Leo) to Africa, specifically the nation of Sierra Leone, the only country whose entire economic system is predicated on spaghetti westerns. The film is set in 99, when the country was in the throes of a civil war. The role that Leo is looking at is that of a smuggler who specializes in "blood diamonds" or "conflict diamonds," which are sold to finance rebellions and terrorists. Says Variety: When the smuggler encounters an indigenous Mende farmer whose young son has disappeared into the RUF’s army of child soldiers, the two men’s fates become linked.
Oh man, it sounds like he learns some valuable lessons about the worth of human lives.
Leo is looking at the film to come between his current The Departed and his avant-garde Metallica song adaptation For Whom the Bell Tolls.