Djimon Hounsou joins Blood Diamond cast

According to Variety, Djimon Hounsou ("Constantine", "The Island") has been cast in the starring role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Blood Diamond". The movie will be directed by Edward Zwick and is scheduled to beginn shooting early 2006.

While Jennifer Connelly is in talks to star as the female lead in the movie, Hounsou will play an African farmer who inadvertently gets drawn into the drama.

"The Blood Diamond" is set in Sierra Leone circa 1999, a time when the nation was in the midst of a horrific civil war. The film tells the story of a smuggler who specializes in the sale of "blood diamonds," also known as "conflict diamonds" -- the precious stones used to finance rebellions, privateers and terrorists.

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.