Pitt, Redford in Mideast Drama

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/13/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

The current strife in Israel has put the brakes on "Spy Game," a movie to star Brad Pitt and Robert Redford that was to begin shooting in the country on Thursday. Variety columnist Army Archerd reports that director Tony Scott ("Days of Thunder") was in Casablanca this week to check out substitute locations for the picture, a CIA thriller that is actually set in Beirut around 1984. Turkey and Tunisia are also reportedly under consideration. Redford is to play an agent who has to go in and rescue a protégé. That would be Pitt. The picture's producer, Marc Abraham, told Archerd that he did not believe the location crisis and subsequent delay would affect the future busy schedule of either star. Brad is due to begin filming his role in the all-star vehicle, George Clooney's pet project "Ocean's 11," next January.