Blood Diamond
Interview: Ed Zwick Talks Blood Diamond
"I think one of the privileges of being a filmmaker is the opportunity to remain a kind of perpetual student," said Zwick. "I had known a bit of what had happened there, but the access that one gains from experts, to people who have devoted their lives and put their lives at risk to learn these things, is such a remarkable opportunity and it became an odyssey to me. I immersed myself in this field. I went, met victims and victimizers, smugglers, mercenaries, traders and politicians. And it was just the most incredible opportunity to delve deeply into a place and what one hopes is that you honor that. You honor those people. That you do well by those who know much more than you."
Blood Diamond is also filled with chases, gunfights and treks through the jungle, but Zwick hopes to combine entertainment with enlightenment. "It’s a rare opportunity to actually have an effect. Because it was awareness that helped bring this process about and it will be heightened awareness that will help it. And that’s not always the case in the world. But in this particular case, if that awareness is increased than things will get better. So, it’s an individual choice, but it has to be an informed choice."
Though the story is centered on the plight of Africans, and Djimon Hounsou plays a lead character, the two other leads are white characters played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. Zwick was not thinking about race when he developed the script.
"This happened to be a story about two African men and to tell one story without the other it wouldn’t have be the same story. It’s not as if we had a story about a Mende fisherman and then said, ‘Oh, we need a white guy in it.'"
Blood Diamond follows other African stories like Catch a Fire and The Constant Gardener, but this is no Hollywood agenda. "The irony, I think, is that such movies as you describe all began their development years ago. It takes a very long time for these things to come to fruition. And I think it’s not a surprise that artists from a lot of different circumstances might be plugged into some unconscious or some collective unconscious that would lead them to focus on this place and this moment. But it’s not now, it’s not as if it’s a sudden trend people have jumped on. It’s something that has begun a long time before."
Blood Diamond opens to theatres this Friday, December 8th.
For the trailers, movie stills, posters, more interviews, full synopsis and more movie info,
go to the Blood
Diamond Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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