George Lucas made an appearance on The Daily Show last night and said what most black people in Hollywood have been saying for years: It’s
hard to get funding for black movies because they’re, well – black. It’s not because black scripts are poorly written that they are difficult to fund, but because there’s no role in an all black script for a white lead.
“It’s because it’s an all-black movie. There’s no major white roles in it at all…I showed it to all of them and they said no. We don’t know how to market a movie like this” said Lucas.
The motion picture “Red Tails” , which opens January 20 and stars Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr, tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen who fought in the segregated armed forces during World War II. In addition to having an all black cast, the movie was directed by black director Anthony Hemingway. Lucas also predicted that if “Red Tails” does good box office numbers during its opening week, it’ll probably be easier to get funding for movies with all black casts in the future.
