The film's origins date back to 1990, when producer Lawrence Gordon acquired the script. In 1991, Gordon took the script to Pitt, who was not yet well-known, the project languished until 1995, when Pitt suggested Ford as Tom O'Meara, which at that time was more of a character role. Ford agreed, though that meant the script had to be rewritten to create a fuller role for Ford and a more complicated relationship between the characters played by the two men. It was Ford's suggestion to bring Pakula in as director. Principal photography started in February 1996, with the script "still in flux"; according to "The New York Times", "ego clashes, budget overruns and long delays plagued the project." Screenwriters Terry George and Robert Mark Kamen were brought on board to provide rewrites to the script during filming. Pitt "threatened to quit early in the shoot, complaining that the script was incomplete and incoherent" and later "denounced the movie as 'the most irresponsible bit of film making – if you can even call it that – that I've ever seen.'"