George Lucas: 'Red Tails' was not 'green enough' for Hollywood studios

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Director George Lucas talked with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart Monday about the difficulty of getting his latest project, Red Tails to the big screen screen.

Red Tails stars a virtually all-black cast. It tells the story of the famed Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots from World War II. They were the first black pilots to serve in combat and their story will be recreated by stars like Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Nate Parker.

theGrio: Red Tails director and stars discuss film’s box office potential

Lucas, who serves as executive producer of the film, told Stewart that he has been developing on the film for 23 years. He financed its production and tried to get promotion from major studios.

“They said it’s not green enough,” said Lucas.

WATCH DIRECTOR GEORGE LUCAS DISCUSS THE FILM ON ‘THE DAILY SHOW’ HERE:
[HULU video=”http://www.hulu.com/embed/DEvaqriyTYOjHpmyEHIc9A” w=”592″ h=”346″]

“It’s because it’s an all-black movie. There are no major white roles in it at all. It’s one of the first all-black action pictures ever made.” He said that studios did not want to take a chance on the film based on projected earning potential for black films.

Lucas went on to say that he was inspired to make the film to inspire teenage boys around ideas of heroism and patriotism. “It’s not Glory where you a lot of white officers running these guys into cannon fire. These are real heroes,” he said.

The film is set to be released January 20.

Follow Donovan X. Ramsey on Twitter at @idxr