The film was directed by Anthony Hemingway, from a script by John Ridley and story by executive producer George Lucas. It is based on the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American combat pilots during World War II, and is the first Lucasfilm Ltd. production since Radioland Murders (1994) not to be associated with the Indiana Jones or Star Wars franchises.
New Trailer & Poster RED TAILS-
Why Red Tails took 23 years to make:
"I wrote the script many years ago, and it turned out just like Star Wars in that it was way too big for one movie. There was the story of how they got trained at Tuskegee (Institute in Alabama), and how Eleanor Roosevelt became their champion. Then there was the battle movie that had piqued my interest initially. And finally the amazing saga of the start of the civil rights movement after the war. So this literally went on for 20 years, trying to get it all into one script, which meant leaving out many things we loved and going mainly with the war story and hinting at the rest."
Why he financed the film himself:
"Everything I do is defensive. I got into a position (to finance projects) right after The Empire Strikes Back (1980). I didn't need to have studios telling me what to do, picking movies for me to make, having me change them and recut them. My first two films (THX 1138 and American Graffiti) were recut, and I said I just don't want that. If I'm going to live or die by my movie, I want to be able to say, 'Yeah, that was a terrible movie, I made a mistake, sorry.' I don't want to have to say I made a great movie but you guys destroyed it."
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How it might affect black filmmakers:
"I realize that by accident I've now put the black film community at risk (with Red Tails, whose $58 million budget far exceeds typical all-black productions). I'm saying, if this doesn't work, there's a good chance you'll stay where you are for quite a while. It'll be harder for you guys to break out of that (lower-budget) mold. But if I can break through with this movie, then hopefully there will be someone else out there saying let's make a prequel and sequel, and soon you have more Tyler Perrys out there."
Sending messages through film:
"You're going to give a message out regardless. You're projecting your point of view and your morality and lessons learned. Those of us in the arts who are given a megaphone have to be especially vigilant. Nowadays in a lot of movies — and I'm not going to condemn the whole movie industry — there is no message. They don't even think about that part. But there should be a point to movies. Sure, you're giving people a diversion from the cold world for a bit, but at the same time you pass on some facts and rules and maybe a little bit of wisdom."
Mythology and movies:
"I've come to the conclusion that mythology is really a form of archaeological psychology. Mythology gives you a sense of what a people believes, what they fear. That's what I did with Star Wars. I took some basic psychological motifs and saw if people could still relate to them today. Oh, you feel this way about your father, and that way about your friends. After its success, I decided I liked the idea of doing films that spoke to and inspired young people, of saying things that needed to be said without being blatant. And that's where Red Tails fits in."
His passion for special effects:
"The reason I've invested so much time and money (creating Industrial Light & Magic, a premier special-effects house) is because art is technology. In the '60s, you were at the end of the (Lawrence of Arabia director) David Lean era, where you'd have 10,000 extras in a scene. That was getting too expensive. The norm became, 'Oh, I have a movie, it's set five years ago, has seven actors in it and we'll shoot on the streets.' So I could tell even then that if we pushed the technology we'd have so many more stories we could tell."
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