Harvey Keitel to star in Meyer Lansky biopic

Veteran actor Harvey Keitel is set to portray gangster Meyer Lansky in an upcoming biographical drama film.

Lansky, considered a contemporary of Bugsy Siegel, was one of the most notorious gangsters of the American history.

To be directed by Eytan Rockaway, the yet-untitled film will also feature Sam Worthington, Emory Cohen and Austin Stowell.

Actors Alexandra Daddario and Tony Danza are in negotiations to join the cast, reported Variety.

The film follows an aging Lansky living in anonymity in Miami Beach after being investigated and pursued for decades by the FBI. When he enlists a young journalist named David Stone (Worthington) to tell his story, the Feds use him as a pawn to track down the hundreds of millions of dollars that the mobster has been suspected of stashing.

Stone finds himself caught in the middle of a game of cat and mouse, uncovering the hidden truth about the life of the notorious boss of Murder Inc and the National Crime Syndicate.

Rockaway has adapted the film's script from a story by Ido Fluk and Sharon Mashihi, partially based on interviews with the real-life Lansky conducted by the director's father, history professor Robert Rockaway.

The project, which is set to start shooting in August, will be produced by Robert Ogden Barnum and Jeff Hoffman alongside Rainmaker Films' Russell Geyser and Clay Pecorin.

Nicolas Chartier, Jonathan Deckter, Mark Holder, Christine Holder, Lee Broda and Jeff Rice will be serving as executive producers.

Keitel, 80, is best known for films such "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "The Duellists", "Thelma & Louise", "Reservoir Dogs", "The Piano", "Pulp Fiction" and the "National Treasure" series.