 Several filmmakers attempted to make a film based on Bugsy's life, most famously French director Jean-Luc Godard, who wrote a script entitled "The Story" and envisioned Robert De Niro as Siegel and Diane Keaton as Virginia Hill.In the late 1970s, Beatty met screenwriter James Toback, with whom he became fast friends when Beatty was preparing "Heaven Can Wait".Years later, when Beatty was in pre-production on "Ishtar", he asked Toback to write a script on Bugsy.