Responding to the recent article in the New York Post that said the producers of the “Blood Diamond” movie reneged on a promise to give the amputee children who served as extras new limbs, a Warner Brothers spokeperson told the tabloid, “There were no broken promises.”

“In fact, the cast, crew, and studio have set up the Blood Diamond Fund, which has already begun to dig wells, build classrooms, and help the communities that so graciously welcomed us into their homes and villages,” it added.

In a separate interview with an online reporter from LA Weekly, “Blood Diamond” director Ed Zwick said he was “furious” at the Post story, and that it was “the work of someone who clearly bears the film ill will.”

He said the Blood Diamond Fund, to which all the crew contributed and ended up totalling six figures, “targeted specific needs in those villages and some neighborhoods that were more improverished where we had worked. To wit: one neighborhood was in terrible need of a well being dug, another neighborhood needed help with a septic system, still another had to repair road damage that was making it hard for villagers to go to and from work, still another needed a classroom repaired, and so on. And replacement of prosthetics was among the them.

“So you can imagine, this having been done in May-June, that we might see this as suggestive of our sense of responsibility,” he added.

The movie was filmed in Mozambique and South Africa.

The Post also ran a follow-up article about a special effects man on the set who lost a hand during the production. In a statement Warner Brothers said it takes the safety of its employees “very seriously” and “regrets” the incident.

JCK