Searching for Chee

Producer Robert Redford and director Errol Morris (“The Thin Blue Line”) have pushed back the start date on “Dark Wind” to “hopefully late August” as they search painstakingly for the right actor to portray Navajo tribal policeman Jim Chee.

Sources say that Redford and Morris are determined to cast an American Indian actor as Chee, a recurring lead character in a series of mystery novels by Tony Hillerman. One obstacle to casting has reportedly been the limited number of American Indians with feature film experience.

“We’ve been looking for over a year,” Redford says. “We’ve been working with the American Indian Registry and they have been enormously helpful.”

Redford bought the rights to all of the Hillerman mysteries “many years ago,” and plans a series of films produced on modest budgets through his Northfork Production Co., in association with Carolco Pictures. Northfork, Redford says, is dedicated to films “that deal with regional matters indigenous to different cultures.

“Jim Chee interests me as a man who wants to retain his tradition and roots but also has been to college and is a modern man. He’s caught between two worlds.”

The latest Jim Chee mystery, “Coyote Waits,” is near the top of best-seller lists.