"And, all of us together — Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, the whole cast and crew, and producers like Paula Weinstein, and me — just talked about what we ourselves could do. And knowing all the while that would turn out to be a drop in the bucket compared to the needs all around us. But the need was so great, and the people and the villages had welcomed us with such generosity, we wanted to do what we could.

And so, at the suggestion of the Mozambique production manager Nick Laws, everyone contributed to a fund. There was no twisting of arms: everyone agreed. And then we asked the studio to match it, which they agreed." The "Blood Diamond Fund," as it came to be called, totals in the six figures. I've heard varying numbers ranging from $200,000 up to $500,000. "That may seem trivial," Zwick emphasizes, "but the Blood Diamond production was also pumping as much as $40 million straight into the local economy. Cash for building roads, hiring drivers, paying for hotel accommodations. When you make a film in a place where the need is desperate, money is like a shot in the arm of the local economy."

We have no idea whether the Warner Bros. rep cited in the original Page Six story offered more by way of explanation than the terse "We're working on it" that ran, or if the column cut it down to the dismissive, "Yeah, yeah, the kids are getting their damn plastic legs. Got anything else you want to waste my time with?" way in which it was presented. But at least we now know that the kids who eventually get their much-needed prosthetics won't be given them in a gift bag in front of a line of wire photographers at the movie's premiere.

• EXCLUSIVE: 'Blood Diamond' Director Ed Zwick Blasts Gossip As "Appalling"; Says Production Set Up Private Africa Fund [DHD]
• Previously: 'Hollywood Accounting' Shows No Funds Left In Prosthetic Limb Budget For African Amputee Extras [Defamer]

Young Nkululo Mnisi - whose arms and legs were cut off by machete-wielding rebels - used to be taunted by cruel classmates as "baboon" because of the way he ran on his stumps and crutches. Mnisi told a South African newspaper that the dream that kept him going was the promise of getting artificial limbs so he'd be able to play soccer like a normal child.

But months after filming ended, Mnisi and his fellow amputees were still waiting. When they asked Warner Bros. about the promised prosthetics, they were allegedly told, "You will have to wait for December, when the movie comes out, so we can get some publicity out of it."

A local African charity, Eastern Cape, came to the rescue when it heard of the amputees' cruelly dashed hopes, and outfitted them with limbs paid for by the organization. Eastern Cape has said that if Warner Bros. does finally come through with the money, it will go to 27 other deserving amputees.

A rep for Warner Bros. told Page Six, "We're working on it."

Be shocked if you must at the thought of a Warner Bros. executive telling his assistant "to put a pin in the arms-and-legs thing until December," but really, the most disturbing aspect of this story is those young amputees' selfish demand for their limb-participation months in advance of the movie's release date; their agents undoubtedly explained to them that their prosthetics would be delivered only after their publicity commitments were completed, so this posturing in the tabloids is obviously just an opportunistic power play. As this transparent ploy unfolds, expect young Nkululo to threaten to pull out of a planned premiere-night photo-op playing soccer with star Leonardo DiCaprio in order to gain leverage with the cruelly exploited studio.

• STUDIO TOO FAR OUT ON A LIMB [Page Six]