Showbiz411

George Lucas didn’t bring any bit of “Red Tails”–a movie he shot in 2009 but has never released– to Comic Con. No way. Right now Lucas is scheduled to show some footage from the long-anticipated film at the 2011 Air Venture convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on July 29th. The screening is set for 8:30pm, sponsored by Ford Motor Company and Hamilton Watches. Lucas is supposedly presenting the trailer.

No one’s seen anything from “Red Tails”–directed by Anthony Hemingway–since it shot in the spring of 2009. There have been many “reports” on various websites that “Red Tails” was either in reshoots or ready for release. Nothing has ever been nailed down. There’s a story that “Red Tails” is supposed to be released in January 2012, but that makes no sense. Either release it before the year’s end, for Oscar eligibility, or wait. But January? Of course, right now there’s no distributor. Lucas is set to do it himself unless he brings in a studio like Paramount or Fox. If he doesn’t release it soon, the actors are going to forget what they did and how to discuss their experiences for the publicity.

Will this film about World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen bomb? Lucas is smart, but long-simmering films (see “Tree of Life”) tend to be extremely flawed attempts at masterpiece.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.