Lucas' Red Tails Finally Moving Forward

Even though it was always the status of the Star Wars prequel trilogy or a fourth Indiana Jones installment that always grabbed the headlines for the last 10+ years, George Lucas has always been trying to get Red Tails, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots who served in the United States military during WWII, off the ground.

Granted, this is George Lucas we're talking about. The man has enough money to personally finance any film if he damn-well chooses to and certainly has in the past - bankrolled the Star Wars prequels to great success.

So whatever's been keeping Lucas from making Red Tails is clearly a creative decision. But with the prequels complete and Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull having graced the silver screens this time last year, Lucas finally began to move forward on his passion project when he and producing-partner Rick McCallum hired Anthony Hemingway (whose television-directing credits include The Wire and E.R.) to direct and John Ridley (whose screenwriting duties include....Undercover Brother) to write last year.

And things are now further along as filming is set to commence soon in Europe and the likes of Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston (who everyone loves now from TVs Breaking Bad) and human punching-bag Cuba Gooding Jr. have now joined the cast.

It's great that Lucas is actually moving forward on this after talking about it over the years. And I'm even more encouraged that he isn't actually writing the script. Not to mention, he actually hired someone who was involved with The Wire to helm the film.