"Red Tails" The Next George Lucas Production

I'm excited only because of Brian Cranston. The guy is brilliant.

 

STILL nothing about Red Tails release date then? We'll soon be able to write off a May 2011 release won't we?

 

I think we could probably already write it off. I haven't heard a peep about this show lately.

 

ilmfan.com's forum in online again!
BTW, malducin has listed the release date of Red Tails as April 30 2011.
So, is this sort of a placeholder or is this the actual release date?
If so, pr is really bad, I mean, if April 30 is correct, why are they waiting to promote the film? I mean the movie can't be that bad...

 

I don't know. It's possible but I highly doubt it. We haven't even heard anything about which studio is going to distribute the film. Possible they try to shop the film around and let it play here and there in a few film festivals before they release it wide later in the year. However saying that I don't think Lucas has ever released one of his films in that fashion.

I'm interested in seeing how this plays out. If the film is coming out this year we should start hearing something about it. Who knows it might end up on HBO.

 

I say we chill out. Don't you people think George is enjoying the fact that since this isn't SW, he can work at a different pace and not be worried about the panic that strikes if he doesn't do what he hasn't said he'll do? Sorry, kinda joking there but still, why are we freaking out over a movie that has not been announced? They'll like, announce it, when they want to.

 

From what I've read, Lucas was only directing the reshoots because Hemmingway was committed to working on Treme (though you would have to think such reshoots were never originally planned or contracted for if the guy had made other scheduling conflicts.. which almost implies Lucas wasn't happy with some of what Hemmingway had done). Anyway, its been claimed the stuff Lucas has done has to get Hemmingway's approval before it can be included (though its Lucas' project, it does have Hemmingway's name on it). You cant but help wonder if the whole thing might have derailed over this issue alone. It could be a stand-off. Only speculating of course, but if Hemmingway doesn't like what Lucas has done and doesn't want his name associated with those bits, the whole thing might end up becoming a legal matter. Is there any conceivable danger this might end up in the same sort of scenario as Superman 2 and Richard Donner etc.?

I know exactly why Lucas didn't want to direct this one and completely respect that. But in an ideal world, he really should have.

 

What he should've done is co-direct with Hemmingway. Frankly, I think that if he'd gotten Spielberg to work on ROTJ with him, the two of them might've become a directing team, or at least I'd like to think that could've happened. Imagine just how much richer both of their films might've been if they'd been working together all those years-- they would've been America's very own Powell & Pressburger.

 

Well Spielberg and he did kind of work together on the Anakin/Obi-Wan lightsaber duel in ROTS. Spielberg came up with a lot of the set-pieces for that (certainly the part of the overhead structure that breaks loose and falls into the sea of lava, and possibly the lava-surfing if memory serves me correct).

Spielberg should have probably directed ROTJ on his own. The way Lucas produced these films, he ended up acting as a co-director of sorts anyway (his role on ESB and ROTJ was naturally more involved than just that of any normal producer/executive producer).

I also remember reading something Spielberg said about not getting the ROTJ gig - it was more to do with the fact that although Lucas and he are great friends, they're also fierce competitors. I don't think Lucas would have wanted Spielberg doing Star Wars better than him (anyone else, fine... but not his buddy). So their very nature as competitors would likely mean any co-directorial adventure would end in tears. Spielberg, Lucas and John Williams should make up most people's movie dream team. But they each have to take a different role to make it work. For me, Lucas is most adept at conceiving the world and setting the story parameters. Spielberg is probably the best at directing. Its a shame they've only really collaborated on Indy (though elements of Jurassic Park were a collaboration, as well as the sequence from ROTS I mentioned above).

 

@d_arblay:
You mention that elements of Jurassic Park were a collaboration between Spielberg and Lucas. I knwow that Lucas supervised the post work because Spielberg was shooting Schindler's List. Could you be more specific? I'd like to know what specific ideas came from Lcas.

Thanks in advance
Kaero

 

Well its not that it was so much a collaboration of ideas (though given Lucas had an obvious, frequent presence in and around the making of the film, it would be hard to imagine he wasn't coming up with fresh ideas)... but they did work closely together on particular elements of it. Lucas supervised the sound crew, took charge of a lot of the editing and did even some second unit directing, from what I've gathered. So its another example of them working together, other than Indy.

 

The part about ESB is incorrect. Lucas was only on-set for the Dagobah stuff, late in the production. Otherwise he stayed in California during the ESB shoot and let Kershner do his thing. Lucas developed the story, obviously, oversaw pre-production and the post-production ILM phase -- all producer and exec-producer duties -- but he was not "more involved than any normal producer", nor did he act as any kind of "co-director" on ESB.

ROTJ? Yes. ESB? No.

 

Someone has recently posted this on imdb.com

From a recent interview with BlackFilm.com:

"[Interviewer]: We?re still waiting to see what happens with ?Red Tails.?

[Gooding Jr.]: I?ve seen the movie, I?ve seen the special effects, and I can?t tell you how excited I am about that movie and for people to see it. In my career I?ve done a couple of movies that blown up the zeitgeist of cinema and hit social consciousness, like ?Boyz N The Hood? or ?Men Of Honor? or ?Jerry Maguire.? These are movies where people are affected by either a scenario or scene or environment they?ve never been exposed to, or it just hits them and in their everyday life they can identify with. We actors live for that, and we?ve done that again with George Lucas? ?Red Tails.? The movie is breathtaking, and the thing about it is, visually you haven?t seen the things that George is doing with these fighter sequences. It?s insane. The real people we portray, like my character Major Emanuelle Stance. He took these young black men out of the schools of Tuskegee, Alabama and into the Air Force Base in Italy and turned them into warriors. You fall in love with not just the pilots but these men that helped them along their journey. Terrence Howard?s and my character were based on the exploits of Benjamin O. Davis who was the initiator of that whole Tuskegee experiment in putting together these fighter groups to join the efforts in World War II. I don?t want it to sound like it?s going to be a historical thing, which it is, but visually, I?m telling you, if you stay in your seat while you?re watching this movie I?ll be shocked. (laughs)"

 

After reading that I want a trailer NOW.

 

Yep, reading that did give me goosebumps.
Didn't exactly sound like the typical run of the mill actor's movie praisal as part of their contract.

 

Well, you would expect an actor in the movie to talk it up, but if it wasn't much good, would he talk it up *THAT* much?

Sounds like a very exciting and important movie?

 

Wow. If that's a legit quote, it sounds pretty damn good(the aerial sequences at least).

 

From the quote it actually sounds like the movie is finished. Makes me wonder if the film is being held back until the end of the year for (*whispers*) the Oscars?

 

Terence Blanchard To Score ?Red Tails

World-renowned film composer and trumpet player Terence Blanchard is set to score the soundtrack for RED TAILS, the feature film directorial debut by Anthony Hemingway. Based on the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, RED TAILS tells the tale of a group of African-American combat pilots at battle. This marks the first Lucasfilm production in 17 years that is independent of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars film franchises.

RED TAILS stars Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr., Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard and Emmy Award winner Bryan Lee Cranston. The film addresses racial prejudice, war and showcases the human spirit as it rises above all odds.

Produced by Lucasfilm, RED TAILS began development by George Lucas over 20 years ago. Several writers contributed to the script, but ultimately John Ridley completed the screenplay. Producers interviewed surviving original Tuskegee pilots and even gained access to official logbooks from their missions in World War II. The film was shot in Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy and England, and the film score will be recorded in Prague this June.

Terence Blanchard?s work on RED TAILS comes fresh off the heels of his critically acclaimed score for the Broadway play, The Mother****** With The Hat, currently playing in New York and starring Chris Rock. He is currently at work on the music for the Broadway remake of A Streetcar Named Desire and has also been commissioned by the Opera St. Louis for a project that will premiere in 2012.

Blanchard just completed a national co-headlining tour with Branford Marsalis and will continue to tour with his quintet throughout 20ll. Additionally, after serving as Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute, Blanchard has now been named Artistic Director of the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami?s Frost School of Music.

As a film composer, Blanchard has more than 50 scores to his credit and received a Golden Globe nomination for Spike Lee?s 25th Hour. Blanchard?s music was also recently seen in Spike Lee/HBO?s If God?s Willing And The Creek Don?t Rise, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the sequel to the critically-acclaimed 2006 film, ?When The Levees Broke.? The film shows the current state of Blanchard?s native New Orleans five years after Hurricane Katrina, and follows the lives of several individuals and their families in the aftermath of one of the worst disasters to occur in U.S. history. Blanchard won a Grammy for his 2007 CD ?A Tale of God?s Will (A Requiem for Katrina),? which included tracks from Levees.

In 2009, Blanchard loaned his musical voice to Louis the Alligator in The Princess and the Frog. He has completed scores for Lee?s Miracle at St. Anna, the soundtrack for Darnell Martin?s Cadillac Records and Guy Moshe?s adventure thriller Bunraku (Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson and Josh Hartnett). Other film music written by Blanchard includes Kasi Lemmons? Eve?s Bayou and Talk to Me, Oprah Winfrey?s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tim Story?s Barbershop and Ron Shelton?s Dark Blue and music for over one dozen Spike Lee films and documentaries.

Terence Blanchard has established himself as one of the most influential jazz musicians and film score masters of his generation, a member of a jazz legacy that has shaped the contours of modern jazz today. With more than 29 CD?s to his credit, Blanchard is a four-time Grammy Award winner and has received multiple Grammy nominations as well as a Golden Globe nod. His latest CD, ?Choices,? was released by Concord Jazz in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim. Recorded in New Orleans at the Ogden Museum Of Art ? itself a survivor of Hurricane Katrina ? ?Choices? addresses the choices we all make in life ? both as a society and on a personal level. Guest artists on ?Choices? include writer, speaker, educator and activist Dr. Cornel West and singer, musician and composer Bilal. West perf

 

Seems things are really starting to move with Red Tails now.

So, if the score is going to be recorded in June, you would expect the full sound mix to be finished by the time erveybody goes off on holiday in August? That basically means we're looking at a release presumably sometime between September and December?

 

We've known from earlier quotes from Blanchard himself he was scoring the film, but now it looks like it's actually happening.

Couple this news with Cuba Gooding Jr. raving about the footage he's seen and we could be in for something special.

My expectations, however, are tempered. I'm anticipating a action adventure movie with social commentary as a subtext not on the surface and in your face.

 

Wow. I am extremely excited about this. 20 years in gestation, 6 years on the project & about 3 years of actual production!! Could this be GL's best feature film? I love Blanchard's music & I was actually listening to his Malcolm X score when I saw this! And Gooding's quote is indeed inspiring. He's not doing press for RT's. RT's isn't even on the radar. This is is genuine impression of the film. If we can keep GL from last minute edits I think we're safe here. I have been wanting to see this film since I read about it in 1991!

I think GL was right not to rush it (just look at AOTC). Quality seems to have been the issue. This is like Howard Hughes' "Hell's Angels" -- can we finally see this movie??

 

That's a huge IF.

 

Ha ha. Too true, too true...

 

Oh for heaven's sake, give me a break, every movie in the world has "last minute edits."