George Lucas slams Hollywood for refusing to support black films
George Lucas The Star Wars director maintains that it needed 20 years for him to be able to make upcoming movie Red Tails because “there is no major white roles” in the action-adventure.
The film tells the true story of a crew of African-American pilots in the Tuskegee training programme who, having faced up to segregation while systematically hindered from flying, are called up for duty in the Second World War.
The 67-year-old was a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart when he made the claims, saying that he was forced to self-fund the project he characterised as an “all-black movie”.
Lucas told the show’s host: “I showed it to all of them [film studios] and they said, ‘No, we don’t know how to market a movie like this’.
“They don’t believe there’s any foreign market for it, and that’s 60% of their profit.”
The Raiders of The Lost Ark writer and producer added: “It is a reasonably expensive movie. Normally black movies, say Tyler Perry movies or something, they’re very low budget.
“Even then, [the studios] won’t really release his movies, it goes to one of the lower, not major distributors.”
Lucas also produced and co-wrote Red Tails, which stars Cuba Gooding Jr, R&B superstar Ne-Yo, Terrence Howard, Tristan Wilds and Bryan Cranston.
Anthony Hemingway – who is probably best known for his work as first assistant director on TV crime series The Wire – helms the film, which hits cinemas in the USA on Friday.
