Ryan Gosling has put his new movie about the horrors of Sudan on the fast track after witnessing the worst of human nature during an Oscars-season trip to Africa. The star turned his back on Tinseltown's annual prizegiving to jet to Africa so he could research a screenplay he is writing during recent peace talks in Sudan's Darfur region.

He had hoped he'd be further inspired by the visit but now he knows how important it is to get the message about the horrors of refugee camps and the murdering Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) onto a big screen.

He says, "It was brutal. Over 30,000 kids have been abducted from their homes in the last 20 years; 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in displaced persons camps. It was unimaginable poverty. I met a little girl, who, at one and a half, had been wrapped in a carpet and burned by the LRA. She was sick when we met her and we took her to the hospital and she ended up having HIV as well.

"The sad thing is that's not really anything special. Everyone around her had their own situation. It's just endless. I wrote the script; it's not great, I'm not a writer but it doesn't matter because the situation is what it is, and the kids are who they are. If I finally get to make the film it will be with kids who have been part of this. It'll be a narrative version of their own stories... I hope to make it this year."

-Ryan Gosling Pictures

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)