Djimon Hounsou has joined Ed Zwick's next film, The Blood Diamond. As we reported two days ago here, it is the story of a diamond smuggler (Leonardo DiCaprio) engaged in taking "conflict diamonds" out of war-torn Sierra Leone in 1999.
Hounsou will play the indigenous farmer whose son has been drafted into an army of child soldiers. Filming is due to start early next year. Housou is currently finishing work on fantasy film Eragon, in which he plays Ajihad, leader of human rebels against a despotic king.
We talked to Hounsou recently about making films in Africa, and he said, "It's a difficult thing. The whole point of making movies is that you want to make movies that will get seen, and I want to do movies that are international, multicultural, that brings different parts of the world together. So when you go into a slightly confined area like African films, you are limited to that world.
"I think it's important – and I've had the luxury of succeeding outside that world – to show Africans in the world as well, and make sure that the characters are portrayed with dignity. So I have a desire to do contemporary films about Africa and Africans, but right now I have some things I need to do first."