Universal Film Studios notified the Haifa municipality today that it has canceled plans to shoot the film "The Spy Game," starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, in the city. The reason: high prices demanded by local merchants.
Universal wrote to Moshe Tsur, head of the Haifa Economic Development Bureau it had tired of negotiations with local business owners that had proved fruitless.
The company was ready for a two-month film shoot. A 200 member crew was to have stayed in Haifa during that long period of time, and would have employed local extras. Filming would have coincided with the Haifa International Film Festival and contacts were already underway to include Redford and Pitt as guests of honor.
Universal wrote Tsur that, among other things, it had offered good financial conditions to local merchants, and had also offered to rent alternative locations for the shop merchants, for the duration of the shoot. It had also offered to rebuild the first floor shops should they be damaged during filming.
Tsur said today it was regrettable that Haifa had lost out on the film shoot, as the city competes with other locations in Morocco and Algeria. The Haifa municipality stated that it would do everything in its power to reverse Universal's decision.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on August 8, 2000.