BAFTA winner Barry Keoghan replaces Paul Mescal in upcoming drama ‘Bring Them Down’

Alongside Keoghan replacing Mescal, English actor Tom Burke has also been replaced by the American actor, Christopher Abbott.

It is believed the pair ended up dropping out after the project got stuck in development.

The story, set in Western Irish farmland, follows a shepherd's investigation upon discovering several of his sheep massacred.

The crime leads to a violent conflict between the shepherd and the inhabitants of a neighbouring farm.

“When a conflict with rival farmer Gary and his son Jack (Keoghan) escalates, Michael is drawn into a devastating chain of events, forcing him to confront the horrors of his past and leaving both families permanently altered,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film, which has no release date yet, also stars Com Meaney, Susan Lynch, Paul Ready, Nora-Jane Noone.

Co-produced by the Irish company, Tailored Films, and made in conjunction with Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the film is the debut feature of writer-director Chris Andrews.

It was recently announced that Keoghanwill also play the role of ‘Billy the Kid’ in a new biopic.

Henry McCarty (Billy the Kid's real name) was a gun slinger of the American Old West who is believed to have killed 21 men before his 21st birthday, in a series of robberies.

“I felt related to Billy in the sense of him being a mummy’s boy, but obviously, I took a different path, turning my circumstances into something positive rather than rebelling against them,” Keoghan told Hollywood news site, Deadline.

“Nevertheless, there’s a soul and a vulnerability to Billy that I think it’s important to bring, to understand him as a real person rather than the myth that he has become,” Barry said.

In relation to Bring Them Down, there are many reasons why films can end up in ‘stuck in development.’

Often there is trouble with funding, scheduling conflicts for the cast, creative differences between producers and directors, amongst other things.

Famously, Martin Scorsese oversaw ‘The Irishman’ and ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ through years of development hell.

However, it’s his 2002 crime epic ‘Gangs of New York’ which takes the accolade for possibly the longest film in production ever.

Scorsese first came across Herbert Asbury’s non-fiction book in 1970 and acquired screen rights to it in 1979.

The project underwent several periods of change before being conceived as the film we know today.

In 2002 – 32 years after Scorsese first read the book – Gangs of New York was finally released and earned 10 Oscar nominations.