With production beginning in the spring of 2009, it’s now two years since the George Lucas produced WWII film “Red Tails” first started rolling but it now appears to be headed to the finish line. Last week it was revealed that Terrence Blanchard had been hired to score the film and now a release date appears to be on the horizon.
The film’s director, “The Wire” and “Treme” veteran Anthony Hemingway sent out a tweet (via Variety) saying, “BTW, Red Tails hits screens January 2012.” When the trade pushed more details, Hemingway tweeted, “The official release date hasn’t been announced. Stay tuned…” So the long and short of it is: “Red Tails” is probably coming sometime in January (and what better way for Lucas to promote the glossy 3D-ized “Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace” which arrives in theaters the following month).
Starring Terrence Howard, NeYo, Andre Royo, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Method Man, Tristan Wilds, Kevin Phillips, Rick Otto, Lee Tergesen, Elijah Kelley, Marcus T. Paulk, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael B. Jordan, Jazmine Sullivan, Edwina Finley, Daniela Ruah and Stacie Davis the film tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary group of African-American combat pilots in World War II. The production had access to mission logbooks and were able to interview surviving members of the original group of pilots, so hopefully this just won’t be an excuse for Lucas to CGI the shit out of some old timey war planes. But a January release puts this out of any awards possibilities it might have so we’ll have to wait and see what the end result is.
