Five years ago I met an auditioned for one of the biggest managers in Hollywood. Before the audition we talked about the industry as it relates to Black actors and actresses and Hollywood’s production(or lack thereof) of Black films. What he said vastly opened my eyes  about Black entertainment. And after hearing George Lucas talk about the struggle to get his new film Red Tails made last week on The Daily Show(watch the interview!) because there wasn’t enough white people in it , it brought back to life for me, that five year old conversation and the agony of knowing that certain perceptions and problems still exist when making Black movies.

During the time I was meeting with the aforementioned manager (who shall remain nameless), it was 2007 and the movie The Great Debaters was on it’s way into theaters on Christmas weekend. For those who don’t recall, The Great Debaters set in 1935, was a film directed by and starring Denzel Washington that was based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College in Texas. He inspires the students to form the school’s first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship. I asked him, “Why won’t studios make more Black films like this to give more Black actors like myself a chance to work in mainstream film?” His answer? “Don’t take this the wrong way, but Black people don’t want to see those kind of movies. The proof is in the ticket sales.”

READ REST OF ESSAY HERE

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However, there is always a challenge in presenting historic topics on the big screen. A self-professed “realist” Hemingway spoke to Moviefone.com about the challenges he may face in selling younger viewers on a movie about Black fighter pilots in the 1940′s.

What’s the toughest challenge you have selling “Red Tails” to contemporary young audiences?
Trying to target a younger audience is challenging because I know this a story that they don’t know about. Growing up, I didn’t really know who the Tuskegee Airmen were. I knew that they existed, but I didn’t know their history until that HBO movie came out in ’95. That’s where it began for me, I wanted to know more. But just trying to find ways to connect with kids: if I check out, then it’s not working … That’s the trick, ’cause so many people would quickly check out when you’re talking about war stories. But to turn this around and make it about heroics and heroes was very cool.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

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Tapping director Anthony Hemingway (“The Wire”, “OZ”, “The Corner”) to execute his vision, an all-star cast of talent was assembled to tell the story of the fighting 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps that fought in WWII.

Given that Lucas is known by most for his epic Star Wars franchise, which was inspired in many ways by the fighting in World War II, it only seemed right to ask the cast of Red Tails if their new movie qualified to be the Black Star Wars.

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Red Tails cost $58 million to make, more than most other Black films to produce, and if it doesn’t succeed financially, Lucas recognizes that studios will be less likely to green light more movies by Black filmmakers for Black audiences. Read the rest of his comments at HuffPost. Watch him talk about why getting his film made was such a challenge in the clip below.

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“AAFCA is thrilled and honored to bestow recognition to an incredible group of honorees this year,” says Gil Robertson IV, founder and president of the organization. “These individuals and institutions have transformed the face of the cinematic arts.”

The winners of the 2011 AAFCA AWARDS will be announced on Monday, December 12th and the accolades will be formally presented at the January red carpet ceremony hosted by veteran entertainment journalist Kevin Frazier (The Insider). In addition to the special achievement awards, the ceremony will also reveal AAFCA’s Top Ten List, in addition to awards in several categories, including Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

For more information about AAFCA or the 2011 AAFCA AWARDS, visit www.aafca.com.

Watch footage from last year’s AAFCA Awards below:

“Red Tails” tells the story of America’s first Black military airmen, the Tuskegee Airmen. Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Tristan Wilds (formerly of “The Wire”), Ne-Yo and Method Man are all featured in this film produced by George Lucas. Find out more about this film in “Coming Attractions” from TV One and TheUrbanDaily, and see it when it comes to theaters on January 20th, 2012.

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The original Star Wars Trilogy?

That was George Lucas.

Indiana Jones?

George Lucas was behind that one too.

But over the years, Lucas has become a bit of a villain in the eyes of many die-hard film fans.

It all started with the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy that came out at the end of the ’90s and continued with the generally maligned Star Wars prequels.

Now it seems that George Lucas wants to do something that may propel him to supervillain status:

Work with dead actors.

Thanks to incredible advances in computer-generated imagery (CGI), it’s now possible to use “digital actors” in films.  The upcoming Disney film Tron Legacy features a digitized version of the still-very-much-alive) Jeff Bridges that appears just as he did in the original Tron film from 1982.

Lucas is looking to capitalize on this by buying up the film rights of deceased actors for the purpose of using them in his upcoming projects according to Mel Smith, a friend of Lucas and director of the 1994 film Radioland Murders, which was co-written and produced by Lucas.

George has been buying up the film rights to dead actors in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together, so you’d have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck alongside today’s stars.

Granted, this news comes from The Sun, a British tabloid.  But considering Lucas’ other crimes against cinema, we wouldn’t be surprised if this really were true.  Plus, Lucas owns Lucasfilm, LTD and Industrial Light & Magic, two of the leading companies in creating special effects.

We just hope he’ll bring back Tupac, Ossie Davis, Madge Sinclair, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Lynne Thigpen, Bernie Mac, Fred “Rerun” Berry, and Rosalind Cash.

RELATED: Kevin Powell Signs Book Deal For Authorized 2Pac Bio

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Tristan Wilds will take a break from the manicured lawns of CW’s “Beverly Hills 90210″ and head toward the segregated setting of World War II combat in the drama “Red Tails.”

Written by John Ridley and directed by Anthony Hemingway, the film details the true story of the 332nd Fighter Group, an elite all-black unit of escort pilots known as the Red Tails.

According to Variety, Wilds will play Ray “Ray Gun” Knight, a flyboy nearly blinded over Nazi-occupied Italy who becomes the wingman of his friend and cohort, Marty. The two face the prejudice of the U.S. military as much as the overseas enemy but end up establishing an unprecedented record. George Lucas is an executive producer.

Wilds also appeared in the films “The Secret Life of Bees” and “Half Nelson.” He is best known for his recurring role on HBO’s “The Wire.”

George Lucas ventured down to Hollywood from his empire at Skywalker Ranch to present the American Cinematheque’s 23rd annual award to one of his favorite Jedi’s, Samuel L. Jackson, and ComingSoon.net intercepted the man behind some of pop culture’s most iconic mythologies. Lucas gave up a handful of plans that were not quite as secret as the plans to the Death Star, including his intentions for a fifth Indiana Jones adventure, and 3-D-ifying the classic Star Wars films.

ComingSoon.net: You had huge success this summer with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Are you seriously thinking about another one? Harrison Ford’s said there may be plans afoot.
George Lucas: Yes – we’re looking for a “MacGuffin,” which is an object that he goes after. They’re very hard to come by!

CS: Would you want to keep the whole family together for a film – Indy, Marion and Mutt?
Lucas: It really depends on what it is Indy goes looking for and then how the story falls out of that, and then how convenient or inconvenient to have the group there.

CS: A while back when we spoke you were planning to take the six Star Wars films and put them into a 3D format. Is that still something you’re working towards?
Lucas: Oh yeah. The technology is very difficult. It exists – it’s just extremely expensive, and so what we’re trying to do is figure out a more practical way of pulling it off.

CS: And what about Red Tails, the project with the Tuskegee Airmen that you’ve been wanting to do for some time now – there’s progress there?
Lucas: We’re casting that right now and we’re shooting in the spring.

CS: Do you have a director lined up?
Lucas: Yes, we have Anthony Hamilton directing.

CS: Do you think you’ll be directing a film again any time soon?
Lucas: Not for a while. I’m getting rid of all my development. Everything that I’ve ever developed is going to be finished in about a year, a year and a half or two, and then I’m going to go do my own films.

CS: You’re here in L.A. to pay tribute to Samuel L. Jackson. Of all the actors in Hollywood who would’ve killed to lobby you for a part in the “Star Wars” prequels, why was Sam an actor that you felt fit your plans enough to bring into “Star Wars”?

Lucas: To be honest, he’s the only one who asked, actually. He didn’t really lobby for it. He was on a talk show and someone asked him what movie he would’ve liked to be in or that he would like to be in that he hadn’t been in and he said “Star Wars.” So I called him up and said “Is that true? Do you really want to be in ‘Star Wars’?” He said “Yeah – as long as I’m a Jedi,” and I said “Well, I have a little tiny role, but it grows if you’re willing to do the three movies.” He said “I’m in.” It was just like that. He didn’t look at it like “This is a chance to make a whole bunch of money, a chance to do a big thing.” He just did what was asked of him and tried to make it as good as he possibly could.

SOURCE: ComingSoon.net

Jackson was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, which puts him in good company with previous recipients Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Al Pacino. The actor tells “The Insider” his feelings about winning the prestigious honor.

“I guess I’ve done something significant in this business,” he says. “And it’s really very strange to get a lifetime achievement award in what I think is the middle of my career. I’ve got like a hundred more films I want to do.”

George Lucas, who worked with Jackson on ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ shares his experience working with the actor.

“Fantastic, he’s a really professional actor,” Lucas says about Jackson. “Always going 200%, giving you a lot more than you ask for — always there ready to work.”