About Fucking Time Dept, Part 2
VARIETY: Lucas taps Ridley to write 'Tails'Filmmaker exec producing WWII movie
By MICHAEL FLEMING - Posted: Mon., Aug. 27, 2007, 8:00pm PT
George Lucas has hired John Ridley to write "Red Tails," a WWII action adventure about the Tuskegee Airmen based on a story by Lucas, who is financing development through his Lucasfilm production company and exec producing.
Pic charts a group of young pilots as they overcame racism to form the Tuskegee Airmen, a distinguished group of fliers who broke the aviation color barrier to become the first African-American fighter pilots in U.S. military history.
Lucas, who has been busy with the fourth installment of "Indiana Jones," has long had a passion for the Tuskegee Airmen, whose planes were distinguished by the red-painted tails that give the film its title.
He hired Ridley after reading "L.A. Riots," the Universal/Imagine drama Ridley just turned in to director Spike Lee. Ridley's just getting off the ground on "Red Tails" after meeting with the surviving pilots at a convention in Texas.
Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson are producing.
"These were guys who had to figure everything out for themselves, because military units were completely segregated at the time and there was no seasoned war pilot to teach them," Ridley said. "President Roosevelt formed the unit as a publicity stunt because he wanted the black vote for his re-election campaign, but these guys were such skilled pilots that they ended up becoming true heroes by escorting bombers in North Africa and Italy."
Ridley added: "ILM will make the fight sequences come alive, and make you feel what it must have been like to be 19 and flying in a fighter plane."
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I've been hearing about this film for well over ten years - probably closer to twenty. This is definitely a Lucasfilm project that I'd really like to see! Something other than "Star Wars" - awesome!
Labels: article, fighter pilots, film, george lucas, it's about time, john ridley, red tails, tuskegee airmen, world war II
posted by Jeff Pidgeon at
2:24 PM
5 Comments:
Yeah, this is one I've been waiting for, too.
But I gotta say this. There are enough P-51 Mustangs still flying every day that if George truly wants to give us "realism" then he should skip all the temptations of CGI as much as he can for the actual photography of the "Cadillac of the skies" doing what it was designed to do. Flying.
But let us also hope that the script really tells the true story of what it took for the men who flew (and maintained) those aircraft in combat. Their record of never, yes never, losing a bomber they escorted to enemy fighters remains one of the most impressive stories of the Second World War.
On a personal level, there are few things as exciting in life as the live sound of an angry Rolls Royce Merlin at speed. Just hearing it gets to me in ways that are downright primal. And it's pretty good recorded as well...
Well, we'll see - Lucasfilm's track record hasn't been especially strong lately. I'm assuming there'll be a certain amount of license taken, as there was for the Tucker script. Whether I'll like that or not...
I think another alternative between CG and real planes might be quarter-scale miniatures. ILM(?) used them in Empire of the Sun to startling effect.
Call me a purist, if you like, but we saw enough bad World War II CGI in "Pearl Harbor" to last a lifetime and then some. If Lucas really wants to grab the audience with what it was (and is) like to fly a P-51, then he should go for a pure visual and audio experience.
Check out the videos on YouTube and you get an idea.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Reno+air+Race&search=Search
And listen to the sounds from Aircraft Records -
http://www.aircraftrecords.com/productB_frame.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvdPR9mSnnc
This is one of the better videos that illustrate the reality of the aircraft going by at almost 500 mph. It gets my adrenaline going just watching and listening. On this part of the course, the planes are entering what pilots refer to as The Valley of Speed as they turn and head down hill along the western edge of the race course.
Nothing wrong with being a purist - I am in many of my interests, too!
Movies are usually frustration generators for purists, though - filmmakers often cut corners in the areas that purists appreciate the most.
Fortunately, a lot of the newer directors are much geekier than the old-school guys. Lucas is enough of a plane/WWII fan that it might win out over his propensity for heavy CGI use.
I think there's compromises in between that can be really vivid, so we'll just have to wait and see.
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