Harvey Keitel to star in biopic about notorious gangster Meyer Lansky

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Harvey Keitel is certainly no stranger to films revolving around mobsters and has played more than a few members of the criminal underground himself, and Variety has reported that his next project will find him playing notorious gangster Meyer Lansky.

Directed by Eytan Rockaway, the Meyer Lansky biopic is also set to star Sam Worthington, Emory Cohen, and Austin Stowell, with Alexandra Daddario and Tony Danza also in talks to join up. The film will center on 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." Production is set to get underway in August based on a script by Rockaway, Ido Fluk, and Sharon Mashihi, which is partially based on interviews conducted with the real-life Lansky by Rockaway's father, history professor Robert Rockaway.

"Eytan’s fierce talent and unparalleled access to the psyche of Meyer Lansky will elevate ‘Lansky’ to genre-best status,” said producer Jonathan Deckter. "Under his stewardship, and with the gifted Sam, Austin and Emory leading the charge, we can’t wait to share this mind-blowing story with audiences. Our partners at Rumble and Rainmaker have put together another exceedingly creative and commercial project." As I mentioned before, Harvey Keitel certainly has experience playing mobsters, and he's played several real-life members of organized crime as well, including Mickey Cohen in Barry Levinson's BUGSY and Angelo Bruno in Martin Scorsese's THE IRISHMAN, which is slated to hit Netflix later this year.