Director George Lucas talked about the difficulty of getting his latest project, Red Tails to the big screen screen.

Red Tails stars a virtually all-black cast. It tells the story of the famed Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots from World War II. They were the first black pilots to serve in combat and their story will be recreated by stars like Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Nate Parker.

Lucas, who serves as executive producer of the film, told Stewart that he has been developing on the film for 23 years. He financed its production and tried to get promotion from major studios.

Lucas went on to say that he was inspired to make the film to inspire teenage boys around ideas of heroism and patriotism. “It’s not Glory where you a lot of white officers running these guys into cannon fire. These are real heroes,” he said.

The film is set to be released January 20.