I went to war for ‘Red Tails’
EORGE LUCAS CREATED the “Star Wars” universe and led Indiana Jones to the Lost Ark, but even he couldn’t overcome Hollywood’s racial barriers.
The cinema legend revealed this week that he struggled to get “Red Tails,” his movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, distributed earlier this year.
“It’s a fantastic story nobody knows about,” Lucas told Confidenti@l after receiving the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s Triumph Award from his “Star Wars” star Samuel L. Jackson. “And the studios didn’t want to release it. It was hard getting it into theaters. Civil rights still has a long way to go.”
Lucas added, “I’m from the ‘60s — I grew up in the time of Martin Luther King. I thought we were living in a postracial world. We elected President Obama. But we have a long way to go.”
Lucas, who’ll speak at the N.Y. Historical Society Friday about his documentary “Double Victory,” which is also about the Tuskegee airman, is doing his part to get us to a better world. He’s using his high-tech know-how to give students and teachers learning tools at Edutopia.org. His educational foundation, and with the help of his beautiful life partner Mellody Hobson, supports efforts like the After School Matters program. Hobson, the president of Ariel Investments, told the Daily News, “We help 22,000 students a year, and studies have shown that our graduation rates are higher.” To
Gget out of poverty, she added, “Education is the only way.”
It’s possible the only color Hollywood execs see is green. Lucas invested nearly $60 million of his own money into the film’s production and sunk another $35 million into distribution. The war film was considered a box office bomb. By May, “Red Tails” was long gone from theaters and available for home rental.
While collecting his award in front of an audience that also included Sean (Diddy) Combs, Lucas said, “The past is gone. Let’s make the world the way it has to be. Let’s take over the future.” Sexy actress Roselyn Sanchez hit a high note at the Billboard Mexican Music Awards in LA.