First Trailer for Red Tails
Posted 07.29.11 by Chris
Over the past decade, whenever the Lucasfilm logo has appeared on the big screen, moviegoers have come to anticipate a huge, sweeping opening scene of aerial battle. In Star Wars, it was X Wings and Death Stars. But in the new trailer for Red Tails, we will see an aerial battle from World War II.
George Lucas is finally bringing to the screen his long-in-the-works Red Tails, the story about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American World War II combat pilots. Lucas has been sitting on the project since 1988.
I've been wanting to do Red Tails for 20 years, and we've finally got the means to showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots. We're working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dog-fighting of the era. And our top-notch cast will really make this story special.
Well, the wait is over. The first trailer for the movie has arrived and aside from the Star Wars-esque airplane scenes, it's as far away from a galaxy far far away as you can get. It's worth noting this is the first Lucasfilm movie that is not associated with Star Wars or Indiana Jones since 1994.
Here's a synopsis:
1944. World War II rages and the fate of the free world hangs in the balance. Meanwhile the black pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program are courageously waging two wars at once -- one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home. Racial prejudices have long held ace airman Martin "Easy" Julian (Nate Parker) and his black pilots back at base -- leaving them with little to do but further hone their flying skills -- while their white counterparts are shipped out to combat after a mere three months of training. Mistakenly deemed inferior and assigned only second-rate planes and missions, the pilots of Tuskegee have mastered the skies with ease but have not been granted the opportunity to truly spread their wings. Until now.
As the war in Europe continues to take its dire toll on Allied forces, Pentagon brass has no recourse but to reconsider these under-utilized pilots for combat duty. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, Col. A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) awards them the ultimate chance to prove their mettle high above. Undaunted by the prospect of providing safe escort to bombers in broad daylight -- a mission so dangerous that the RAF has refused it and the white fighter groups have sustained substantial losses -- Easy's pilots at last join the fiery aerial fray. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies in a heroic endeavor to combat the enemy -- and the discrimination that has kept them down for so long.
The movie was directed by Anthony Hemingway and stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Ryan Early, Method Man, Lee Tergesen, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Andre Royo, and Jesse Williams.
Next Showing: Red Tails hits theaters Jan. 20