DiCaprio's "Diamond" Dustup

Apparently, this Diamond may be rough for business.

At least that's what a group of gem industry bigwigs are complaining about in the run-up to Leonardo DiCaprio's upcoming Warner Bros. drama The Blood Diamond, in which he plays a diamond smuggler who matches wits with a ruthless African diamond syndicate.

Clearly rankled by the subject matter, which they fear could cut into jewelry sales, the World Diamond Council and a loose coalition of diamond organizations are appealing to the film's producer, cowriter and director, Edward Zwick, to include a scene at the end of the movie depicting improvements in the trade of so-called "conflict diamonds"--that is, rough diamond sales that helped fueled bloody African civil wars in which thousands of people were killed, particular in Sierra Leone, where the film is set.

"The WDC and its coalition are urging the studio and the filmmakers to present this story in the proper historical context so they can relate how conflict diamonds have improved since then," says World Diamond Council spokesman Carson Glover.

Kago G. Moshashane, the deputy secretary of Botswana's Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, and Eli Izhakoff, chairman of the World Diamond Council, sent a joint letter to Zwick in February asking that the filmmaker show how mine owners have improved the situation surrounding the conflict diamond trade in Sierra Leone.

They note that the events portrayed in The Blood Diamond predate the implementation of the Kimberly Process, a voluntary certification program initiated in 2000 that sought to put an end to conflict diamond sales by certifying the movement of rough diamonds across international borders. The move came amid massive protests by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, urging industry leaders to clean up their act.

The letter claims that the film will dredge up bad memories and present a "distorted picture of reality to the general public" and could hurt diamond sales come the holiday shopping season.

To that end, the letter asks Zwick, an Oscar winner as a producer of Shakespeare in Love, to include something about the Kimberly Process and its affect on the conflict diamond trade, which has been reduced from 4 percent to 1 percent of rough diamond sales, according to the WDC.

But Zwick, whose filmmaking credits also include The Last Samurai, The Siege and Glory, isn't paying much heed.

"We're all aware of the Kimberly Process. The movie details the events of 1999 and are facts are in order. And we're not negotiating with anyone as to the content of our movie and we'll make the movie as we see fit," Zwick tells E! Online.

There is also some dispute about the efficacy of the Kimberly Process, which is still only voluntary. Amnesty International claims that the conflict diamond trade persists in such countries as Liberia and the Ivory Coast.

"One of the main problems from our perspective is that checks on the diamond industry from production and distribution are woefully inadequate," said Amnesty spokeswoman Amy O'Meara. "Basically, there's no auditing that exists and without that there's a lot of loopholes that allows illicit diamonds to enter the trade."

The World Diamond Council coalition is made up of seven groups: the American Gem Society, a group of retail jewelers; Diamond Dealers Club, diamond traders; the Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America; Jewelers of America, another retail trade organization; Jewelry Information Center, the PR arm of the jewelry industry; the Jeweler's Vigilance Committee, which monitors legal issues; and Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America.

The Blood Diamond, which also stars Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou and Stephen Collins, recently wrapped production in South Africa and Mozambique and is scheduled to hit theaters in December.