Hollywood Studio Wants DeCaprio in Movie on Conflict Diamonds

Warner Brothers is in talks with actor Leonardo DiCaprio to play the lead role in a movie set against illegal diamond dealing in Sierra Leone as the background story. The movie, entitled The Blood Diamond, is a thriller in which a boy is kidnapped by the RUF rebel movement.

The Oscar-nominated actor is reportedly in negotiations with Warner to star in the thriller that will be directed by Ed Zwick. The story takes place in 1999 in Sierra Leone, at the height of the civil war in the country.

DiCaprio’s character is a smuggler who sells conflict diamonds. He meets a farmer whose son has been kidnapped and forced into the rebels' army of child soldiers.

Filming is planned to begin early next year.