George Lucas: Hollywood Wouldn't Back My Film About Tuskegee Airmen Due to All Black Cast

[Omaha Steve]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/01/11/george-lucas-hollywood-wouldnt-fund-his-film-about-tuskegee-airmen-du#ixzz1jAt2b0PM

By Noel Sheppard | January 11, 2012 | 10:26

Star Wars creator George Lucas said Monday that Hollywood studios refused to back his new film Red Tails - about World War II's Tuskegee Airmen - because the cast was all black.

This was told to a rather stunned Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's Daily Show (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

For those not familiar, the Tuskegee Airmen were a group of black pilots that fought in WWII segregated from white forces.

“It was designed to be during the war," Lucas said. "It’s very patriotic, very jingoistic, very old-fashioned, corny, just exactly like 'Flying Leathernecks' only this one was held up for release from 1942 when it was shot, and I’ve been trying to get it released ever since.”

Lucas told Stewart he’s been working on the film for 23 years. Although paying for it himself, he went to the studios to create the prints, ads, and be responsible for distribution.

FULL story and video at link.

[Angry Dragon]

1. They never lost a bomber to German fighters

[d_r]

3. they were good pilots

Because the military ptb wouldn't give them a mission to fly, they got to benefit from months of additional training that white pilots didn't have. It paid off - they were great pilots.

[Angry Dragon]

6. I watched a show one time where there were

pilots that asked for the Red Tails to escort

[NightTemplar]

15. yeh debunked

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=6246

Still they had an excellent record and were renowned for being aggressive and staying with the bomber pilots a long time.

[taterguy]

7. That was debunked a while back

It would be a nice story if it was true.

[Angry Dragon]

10. link??

[frylock]

13. they lost 25..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-01-tuskegee-airmen_N.htm

[Angry Dragon]

14. I stand corrected

still only losing 25 bombers is not bad

[bbinacan]

2. Can't wait to see this movie. n/t

[sylveste]

22. i don' know,

normaly this is the kind of movie thats right up my alley, but the previews make it look a little ewokish.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. Oh puhleeze. I think that young Jar Jar Jefferson will steal every scene on that movie.

[Charlemagne]

35. I prefer the term

gungan

[cthulu2016]

4. Well, that and a little thing called Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

[CTyankee]

9. what exactly are you talking about? I'm not getting it...

I guess I don't understand the connection between the Tuskegee Airmen and Indiana Jones...

[Retrograde]

16. Possible translation: Most of Lucas' films aren't very good

IMHO, American Graffiti, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were flukes (and the last two had a lot of input from other people). When left to his own devices, Lucas isn't so hot - 1941, that Ewoks special, the last three Star Wars movies, and, yes, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I can understand a studio telling him telling him that they won't finance his newest effort because his last films have been mawkish drivel with an overemphasis on special effects at the expense of plot, character development and overall story telling.

[cemaphonic]

18. Another Possibility

Lucas has spent the last 15 years rehashing Star Wars - Maybe the studios heard Tusken Raiders instead of Tuskeegee Airmen.

[Angleae]

25. The studios loved Crystal Skull and the prequels.

After all, they're only after money.

TPM: $930 million
AOTC: $640 million
ROTS: $848 million
CrySkull: $783 million

[RZM]

26. They probably were excited about those

I also agree that above all else they are after money. But it's also true that all the films you listed were part of franchises that have been consistently making big money for decades. Having the 'Star Wars' or 'Indiana Jones' name in the title of a film pretty much guarantees big box office receipts, no matter how bad the film is.

That's the difference with Red Tails. It's not part of a franchise and thus it's understandable that studio execs might not be confident it could make money, especially since the production costs were guaranteed to be very high. 30 years later, The Heaven's Gate debacle still haunts Hollywood. The racial angle is certainly a big part of it, but it's not the only thing.

[Charlemagne]

37. +1

[Charlemagne]

36. Lucas is good at creating ideas

But under no circumstances should he ever be given control over directing, writing, or anything else.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. I thought The Tuskegee Airmen was a pretty good movie...

Wonder how this one will be.

[KansDem]

8. Guess they won't be doing "Porgy and Bess" either...

President Pelton joined the cast of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess when they visited Emerson on Friday. From left are Pelton, Norm Lewis, Audra MacDonald, Phillip Boykin, Director Diane Paulus, and David Alan Grier

http://www.emerson.edu/news-events/emerson-college-today/emerson-celebrates-porgy-and-bess

Oh, wait! It's already been done--



In 1959...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053182/

[Luminous Animal]

11. Maybe if he had given them all white girlfriends...

[Mopar151]

12. I met a guy reputed to be a Tuskegee Airman

Impressive man - world class management/ problem solving skills, on the fly, no minions required

[malthaussen]

17. There was a contest after Markowitz's TV movie was released in 1995

... that pitted some surviving members of the Tuskegee groups against the "best" combat-air sim pilots on the Internet, many of whom were current USAF pilots. They competed with one of the WWII air combat sim programs, and according to reports the old guys, who were all in their 70's or older, kicked some serious ass.

-- Mal

[pinboy3niner]

20. If you remember his name...

...you may find it on this list:

http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/legacy_of_fame/tuskegee_airmen/tuskegee_airmen_pilot_listing.aspx

I knew one of these guys years ago. Woody Driver died in 1992. R.I.P.

[Mopar151]

21. Did not find him on the list - my source could be wrong

A little too young, I think maybe - was there a later unit (like in Korea?) that had a similar name or composition?

[Snake Alchemist]

19. After the last Indy movie and last 3 Star Wars movies I don't trust anything this man says. nt

[Capitalocracy]

24. If he says the movie's corny...

I believe him.

[Canuckistanian]

23. Spielberg did "The Color Purple", George

You're let gonna let that punk Spielberg outdo you...... are you?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/

[Romulox]

27. The previews make the air combat look fake and computer generated. Much like

the more recent Star Wars films.

[Hugabear]

28. I'm surprised that Lucas didn't try to turn this into a sci-fi story

I can see it now...set on a Pandora-type planet, and instead of fighting Germans, they're fighting insect-type aliens.

And he could still claim that it's "loosely based on a true story"

[FSogol]

31. They also have a pre-flight huddle which seems more appropriate for the 2011

Baltimore Ravens Defense than fighter pilots in WWII. I think a film about the Tuskegee Airmen would be great, but this looks like a cliched mess.

[Charlemagne]

38. The Baltimore Who????

Go Bengals

[LanternWaste]

30. Looking forward to this one.

Looking forward to this one. The Tuskegee Airmen (movie) that came out in the early nineties or so was very good and dramatic, but the air combat was a bit weak. After seeing the previews for this one, I'm thinking CGI may have finally caught up to filming a string depiction of WWII aerial combat.

[Number23]

32. Welcome to "Post-Racial" America!

If they had found a way to have a white female love interest or have a sympathetic white male officer in the film some sort of way, I'm sure there would have been less difficulty with getting the film distributed. Gotta love this new "post-racial" country we all allegedly live in.

Props to George Lucas for pressing on.

[Charlemagne]

33. "Lucas told Stewart he’s been working on the film for 23 years. "

Oh bullshit, george. Anything to get people into the theater thinking this is your "crowning achievement in the works since day one."

Whatever.

Its a great story and a great part of American history but when we are dealing with George Lucas we need to apply the bullshit lenses.

[sofa king]

40. I don't know...

Twenty-three years ago, Lucas had just finished producing films for his pals Spielberg and Coppola. All three of them had a deep interest in World War II; Coppola had already helped write Patton, Spielberg was sitting on Schindler's List, and the Indiana Jones series had just (temporarily) ended on a (temporarily) high note by returning to the formula of killing Nazis.

But others above have excellent points as well. Someone above mentioned Heaven Can Wait, and how Hollywood still had the hurts over that. Then, in 1987, there was Ishtar, which should have ruined Hollywood's reputation forever (and maybe it did). And a bunch of other coke-addled pieces 'a shit not worth mentioning.

Also plausible is the idea that Hollywood wouldn't wish to touch a film with an all-black cast. That caution wouldn't necessarily have its roots directly in racism, though it could. Just as likely could be the costly (and, for the anti-miscegenationist America of 1954, scandalous) failure of Otto Preminger's 1954 film Carmen Jones. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Hollywood hasn't fully backed an all-black casted film since then.

[markpkessinger]

34. How the HELL do you make a movie about the Tuskeege Airmen that is NOT an all-Black cast? n/t

[Quantess]

39. The underlying assumption is that a film with an all black cast won't be profitable.

Does that carry with it the assumption that only black people would go see it, and that not enough blacks have enough income to buy movie tickets? I'm not sure the assumptions are true...

Okay, now I will read the rest of the article & watch the daily show clip.