Red Tails : An epic story of the Tuskegee Airmen

Red Tails : An epic story of the Tuskegee Airmen gets Green light

The latest epic from producer George Lucas has just been cast giving it the green light to start filming later in the year

The movie is a world war II action adventure. Red Tails film is a fictional tale inspired by the true story of America’s first all black aerial combat unit.

The film’s title comes for the distinctive red painted tails on their planes.

“I’ve been wanting to do ‘Red Tails’ for 20 years, and we’ve finally got the means to showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots,” Lucas said. “We’re working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era. And our top-notch cast will really make this story special”.

About the movie

George Lucas is executive producing and developed the original story. The Screenwriter is John Ridley (of U Turn, Three Kings, and Undercover Brother).
The film will start shooting in March in Italy, Prague and Croatia

The cast

Director
The Red Tails film, will be directed by Anthony Hemmingway. His credits included The Wire, Battlestar Galactica and C.S.I New York.
Before becoming a director he worked as a assistant director.
His directing début came in 2006 on the seventh episode of the fourth season Unto Others which led to him directing other episodes and eventually into main stream cinema.

Stars

The leading star is Cuba Gooding Jr, who also stared in the 1995 film Tuskegee Airmen with Laurence Fishbone about the same group of black fighter pilots
The cast also includes Terrence Howard the actor singer and rapper who had his film break in Mister Holland’s opus. starring along side Richard Dreyfuss and the iconic Olympia Dukakis
Bryan Cranston who is best known for his role in the T.V. smash hit Malcolm in the Middle.
A side note whilst at college for a part-time job Bryan became a ordained minister .
Other actors include Nate Parker who played Henry Lowe in Great Debaters directed be Danzel Washington also signed up are David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Aml Ameen, Cliff Smith (aka Method Man).

Aml Ameen interview about Lucas Movie Red Tails

History of the men who inspired the Red Tails Film

In 1939, the government began establishing flight schools at colleges around the nation but refused to do so at any of the Black colleges believing black men didn’t have the calibre to be fighter pilots.

But with mounting pressure from black newspapers, pressure groups and a few sympathetic government leaders including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor it was decided to try the “Tuskegee Experiment”. So on July the 19th 1941 a flight school was established at the historic Tuskegee University in Alabama

In June 1943, the Tuskegee Airmen entered into combat over North Africa. The airmen should courage, skill and ddication in combat. They flew more than 15,000 sorties, completing over 1,500 missions during the war.
They never lost an escorted bomber to enemy fighters. No other escort unit could claim such a record.
When the war ended, the Tuskegee Airmen returned home with 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit and the Red Star of Yugoslavia. The group was disbanded in May 1946 but its success contributed to blacks men and women been fully integrated into the military.