50 Fun Facts About Blood Diamond

In Blood Diamond, what color is the enormous rough diamond that Solomon Vandy finds while mining a river?

Pink is the color of the stone that every character ends up chasing. Smuggler Danny Archer hears about it in prison and arranges Solomon's release to get at it.

Blood Diamond's smuggler Danny Archer was born in Rhodesia, a country known by what name today?

Zimbabwe is the modern name of Archer's birthplace. He tells Maddy Bowen that rebels killed his parents, and that he fled to South Africa as a child.

Leonardo DiCaprio earned two Golden Globe nominations in one category for Blood Diamond and which other 2006 film?

The Departed, Martin Scorsese's Boston crime thriller, went on to win Best Picture. Oscar voters, though, nominated DiCaprio for playing Danny Archer instead.

Which rapper won a Grammy for Diamonds from Sierra Leone, a 2005 single built on a James Bond theme sample?

Kanye West first wrote the song about his record label, then re-recorded it after learning about blood diamonds. It samples Shirley Bassey's Diamonds Are Forever and won Best Rap Song.

Which Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind plays journalist Maddy Bowen opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond?

Jennifer Connelly won her Oscar as Alicia Nash, the wife of mathematician John Nash. Her Blood Diamond reporter helps Archer in exchange for evidence about the illicit diamond trade.

In Blood Diamond, rebels hack off villagers' hands to keep them away from which national event?

Elections were the target, since the rebels wanted to scare villagers out of voting. Sierra Leone's real RUF became notorious for amputating the limbs of civilians.

Which supermodel told the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2010 about diamonds given to her by unknown men?

Naomi Campbell said she took the stones for a gift and later handed them to the head of a children's charity. Prosecutors believed they were blood diamonds sent by the former president on trial.

Blood Diamond star Djimon Hounsou played Juba, the friend of Maximus, in which Ridley Scott epic?

Gladiator cast Hounsou as a Numidian fighter who befriends the hero in the arena. Six years later his turn as Solomon Vandy brought him a second Oscar nomination.

Arnold Vosloo, Blood Diamond's mercenary boss Colonel Coetzee, is best known as the villain Imhotep in which film?

The Mummy made Vosloo a go-to screen villain after he emigrated to the United States. In Blood Diamond his colonel runs a private army hired by Sierra Leone's government.

Before rebels force him into a diamond mining camp in Blood Diamond, how does Solomon Vandy earn his living?

As a fisherman from the village of Shenge, Solomon is torn from his family and set to work under a warlord. An early version of the story made the character a farmer instead.

Which RUF warlord in Blood Diamond runs the mining camp where Solomon Vandy is forced to dig for gems?

Captain Poison, played by English actor David Harewood, tries to seize Solomon's find for himself. A raid by government troops then lands both men in the same prison.

Which capital city, where Danny Archer and Solomon Vandy meet in prison, falls to the rebels in Blood Diamond?

Freetown began in the late 1700s as a settlement for freed slaves, hence the name. The film restages the rebel assault on Sierra Leone's capital in January 1999.

In Blood Diamond, what does Solomon Vandy use to kill the warlord who enslaved him and stole his son?

A shovel becomes Solomon's weapon as mercenaries storm the rebel camp. He has just found his son there, brainwashed and refusing to acknowledge his own father.

In which city does Solomon Vandy finally trade his diamond for money and his family at the end of Blood Diamond?

London is where Solomon meets a representative of the Van de Kaap mining company. The crew filmed scenes in the city too, far from the main shoot in southern Africa.

Which director of Glory and The Last Samurai made Blood Diamond after first being hired to rewrite its script?

Edward Zwick grew so interested in the story while rewriting it with Marshall Herskovitz that he agreed to direct the film as well.

Leonardo DiCaprio lost the Best Actor Oscar for Blood Diamond; which film finally won it for him almost a decade later?

The Revenant, a survival drama, ended his run of acting nominations without a win. The same role brought him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild award.

Djimon Hounsou of Blood Diamond first won wide notice as Cinqué in which Steven Spielberg historical drama?

Amistad cast him as the leader of an uprising aboard a slave ship. Its captives were Mende tribesmen, the same people as his Blood Diamond character, Solomon Vandy.

Which actor beat Blood Diamond's Leonardo DiCaprio to the Best Actor Oscar by playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin?

Forest Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland, which premiered in Uganda two days before the ceremony. He also took the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awards.

Which James Bond film, released four years before Blood Diamond, also turns on African conflict diamonds?

Die Another Day opens with a North Korean colonel trading weapons for the stones. Its billionaire villain later turns out to have built his fortune on them.

In Blood Diamond, what becomes of Danny Archer after he gives the diamond to Solomon Vandy?

He dies of his wounds while Solomon and his son are flown to safety. His last act is a phone call to Maddy Bowen, asking her to help Solomon and telling her to finish her article.

Which South African port city, also a Blood Diamond filming location, does Danny Archer visit to meet Colonel Coetzee?

Cape Town is where Coetzee, once Archer's army commander, now runs a private military company. He claims Solomon's stone as payback for the smuggling run that Archer botched.

In which country does Maddy Bowen help Solomon Vandy track down his family in a refugee camp in Blood Diamond?

Guinea is where the search for his remaining family ends, though his son is missing. Rebels have carried the boy off to fight for them.

As government troops raid the rebel mining camp in Blood Diamond, what does Solomon Vandy do with his diamond?

He buries it moments before the soldiers capture him, so only he knows where the stone lies. That secret is why Danny Archer later seeks him out as a partner.

How does Maddy Bowen get proof of the Van de Kaap company's dealings at the end of Blood Diamond?

She photographs the deal as Solomon hands over the stone, then publishes the pictures in her article. The film closes with Solomon addressing a conference to a standing ovation.

David Harewood, the warlord of Blood Diamond, later played CIA counterterrorism chief David Estes in which TV drama?

Homeland brought Harewood to American audiences from 2011. Years earlier he had become the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre.

Which Welsh actor, seen as Tony Blair in The Queen the same year, plays Rupert Simmons in Blood Diamond?

Michael Sheen played the prime minister in three films for writer Peter Morgan, and The Queen was the one that brought him international attention.

Which country, where the crew worked in and around Maputo, doubled for Sierra Leone during the Blood Diamond shoot?

Mozambique hosted the shoot alongside South Africa. While filming there, Leonardo DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo.

Which real diamond mining giant did Blood Diamond screenwriter Charles Leavitt expect his script to offend?

De Beers was the company Leavitt had most in mind. He researched the trade at length and kept to the facts, aware that powerful mining corporations might sue.

Which former Liberian president was sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimes in Sierra Leone's civil war?

Charles Taylor gave the RUF substantial help from its creation, and the United Nations accused his government of backing the rebels through the diamond trade.

Which South African mining town hosts the conference where Solomon Vandy speaks at the end of Blood Diamond?

Kimberley hosted a real meeting in 2000 that produced a certification scheme for rough diamonds, one that still carries the town's name. The film gives Solomon a standing ovation there.

At the start of Blood Diamond, Danny Archer is caught at the border with diamonds hidden inside which animals?

Goats carry the stash until a Sierra Leonean patrol stops him. The arrest puts Archer in the prison where he first hears about Solomon's find.

In which country's war did Danny Archer of Blood Diamond serve with South Africa's 32 Battalion?

Angola is where the real 32 Battalion was mainly deployed. The elite unit of black and white soldiers was nicknamed the Buffalo Battalion and, in Portuguese, the Terrible Ones.

Which diamond-rich district of Sierra Leone do Archer, Solomon and Maddy cross the country to reach in Blood Diamond?

Kono is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone. Those reserves made it one of the most looted and fought-over parts of the country during the war.

In which African country, formerly called Dahomey, was Blood Diamond star Djimon Hounsou born?

Benin was his home until he moved to Lyon, France, at the age of 12 with his brother. He built a modeling career in Paris before turning to acting.

Which Little Miss Sunshine actor beat Blood Diamond's Djimon Hounsou to the Best Supporting Actor Oscar?

Alan Arkin took the award on a night when the comedy also won Best Original Screenplay. Hounsou had already collected the National Board of Review's supporting actor prize.

Marius Weyers, Blood Diamond's mining boss Van de Kaap, played a biologist in which comedy about a Coca-Cola bottle?

The Gods Must Be Crazy broke box office records in South Africa in 1980 and became the most financially successful South African film made up to that time.

Which composer of The Sixth Sense and The Hunger Games wrote the award-winning score for Blood Diamond?

James Newton Howard won Soundtrack of the Year at the 2008 Classic Brit Awards for it. The album also carries a song by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.

Blood Diamond producers Bedford Falls take their company name from the town in which Frank Capra classic?

It's a Wonderful Life lent its small town to the company that the film's director runs with Marshall Herskovitz. Their other productions include Traffic and Shakespeare in Love.

What was the early title, shared with a vast inland delta in Botswana, of the script that became Blood Diamond?

Okavango spent years stuck in development before Charles Leavitt was hired in 2004 to rewrite it. He researched the diamond industry at length before writing a word.

Which Nicolas Cage film, released a year before Blood Diamond, has a Liberian dictator pay for guns with blood diamonds?

Lord of War follows a Ukrainian-American gunrunner through the global arms trade. Its fictional strongman offers him a stash of the stones as the largest payday of his career.

Which memoir by Ishmael Beah recounts his years as a boy soldier in the war shown in Blood Diamond?

A Long Way Gone was published the year after the film. By his account, Beah fled a rebel attack on his village at 12, was made to fight for the army at 13 and was rescued by UNICEF three years later.

Which former army corporal founded the RUF, the rebel movement shown terrorizing Sierra Leone in Blood Diamond?

Foday Sankoh trained as an army cameraman and wireless operator before turning rebel. He died in 2003 of complications from a stroke while awaiting trial for war crimes.

Which campaign group's 1998 report A Rough Trade was among the first to link diamonds to African wars?

Global Witness helped set up the certification scheme for rough diamonds, then walked out of it in 2011, saying it was no longer working.

Which country supplied most of the troops for ECOMOG, the West African force that fought Sierra Leone's RUF rebels?

Nigeria provided most of ECOMOG's personnel and resources and almost all of its commanders. In 1993 its troops helped Sierra Leone's army win back the diamond districts.

Which country, Sierra Leone's former colonial ruler, sent troops in 2000 under the codename Operation Palliser?

Britain went in at first to evacuate foreign citizens as the RUF advanced on the capital. It became the first large-scale intervention by its forces in the civil war.

Which Belgian city hosted the 2000 World Diamond Congress that called for certificates on all diamond exports?

Antwerp has a diamond district with four trading exchanges. As of 2012, about 84% of the world's rough diamonds passed through it.

The RUF seized districts of Sierra Leone rich in which type of diamond deposit, workable with the simplest tools?

Alluvial diamonds can be extracted with simple tools once the land is controlled, which makes them easy for an armed group to exploit. Deep mines need capital and technical expertise.

Which private military company, founded by a South African ex-officer, retook Sierra Leone's diamond fields in 1995?

Executive Outcomes also forced the rebels into a negotiated peace. When the government bowed to international pressure and sent the firm home, the RUF rebuilt and sacked the capital.

Which Hollywood studio, where the script sat in development for years, released Blood Diamond in December 2006?

Warner Bros. opened the film in 1,910 theaters, where it ranked fifth on its first weekend. About two-thirds of its worldwide gross came from outside the United States and Canada.

The director of Blood Diamond sent which star to 19th-century Japan in his previous film, The Last Samurai?

Tom Cruise played Nathan Algren, a cavalry officer whose inner conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors after the Meiji Restoration.