 Rossen was already ill when he started on his final film , Lilith ( 1964 ) , and it was poorly received in the United States . After it Rossen lost interest in directing , reportedly because of conflicts with the film 's star , Warren Beatty . The filmmaker said , " It isn 't worth that kind of grief . I won 't take it any more . I have nothing to say on the screen right now . Even if I never make another picture , I 've got The Hustler on my record . I 'm content to let that one stand for me . " However , at the time of his death Rossen was planning Cocoa Beach , a script he conceived in 1962 , showing the hopes and struggles of transients in a local community and contrasting this with nearby Cape Canaveral , which Neve described as a " symbol of America 's imperial reach " . 
