TOUGH OR PUFF?

In what American Film editor Peter Biskind concedes is a highly unusual move, the magazine will run a 5,000-word May cover story, “Inside ‘Ishtar,’ ” taking a “favorable” approach to the pic. Due out April 15, the article may help to deflate rumors that director Elaine May’s $35 million-plus production is in trouble, some of which surfaced in a recent New York magazine article.

Biskind, who wrote the piece, told us: “Clearly, a lot of talented people have been involved in this project, and I’ve spoken to others who have seen cuts of the film and thought it very funny. People love a disaster, especially when it comes to a film with this big a budget. . . . They would love to hate this film.”

He claims that the notion of a out-of-control production has been exaggerated. “It was obviously very expensive shooting on locations in Morocco, and the New York shooting was long, arduous and expensive, requiring a lot of rehearsals and many takes, because these two stars (Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman) are singing in a film for the first time.”

Biskind talked to members of cast and crew, but not May and Beatty, who declined to be interviewed. Hoffman was to have done a phone interview but did not call Biskind by his deadline last week.