Movie in the works that will take 20 years to film and director has revealed what will happen if he dies making it

The director of a movie which will take 20 years to film has revealed what will happen if he dies before completing it.

Usually filmmakers will cast multiple actors to get around the issue of ageing in stories which are told over a number of years, with HBO's House of the Dragon a recent example.

Artificially ageing and de-ageing actors is also another option which is rapidly rising in popularity, thanks to CGI advancements across the past couple of decades.

However for director Richard Linklater, he prefers to create his films the old fashioned way - which means shooting films across a number of years.

The technique has proved to be successful for Linklater, with his Oscar nominated film Boyhood taking around 12 years to film.

For his next work the director is attempting an even more ambitious project, shooting a film across the span of 20 years.

Starring Normal People's Paul Mescal, Merrily We Roll Along will tell the story of a talented Broadway composer, who abandons his friends in order to pursue a career as a producer of Hollywood movies. The story is based off of the musical of-the-same-name by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth.

Richard Linklater plans on shooting the film for the next two decades (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Netflix)

Mescal will play the lead role of composer Franklin Shepard, while Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein and Mallory Bechtel have also been cast.

Filming has already begun on the project, which Linklater aiming to shoot Merrily We Roll Along in a total of nine separate filming blocks.

Paul Mescal will star in the 20 year feature. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)

However don't expect to be watching Merrily We Roll Along any time soon, as Linklater expects the project to be finished in 2041.

Shooting a film over such a long period of time obviously comes with many practical issues - with Linklater unable to foresee if he will lose funding for the project or if any of his cast will decide to quit the industry before it's completed.

Age and mortality are also huge question-marks over the project. By time filming is completed, its star Mescal will be around 50-years-old, while Linklater will be 80.

The complications of his own death is something Linklater considered when beginning the project, however he is thankfully not too worried about the film ending up unfinished.

Beanie Feldstein has been cast in Merrily We Roll Along. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Speaking about a project in an interview with The Times, Linklater revealed that 'mortality crosses his mind' however he isn't too worried about it as there are 'a few other people who could finish [the film]' if needs be. Which should come as a reassurance to fans who are patient anticipating the project.

Mescal however has revealed his own concerns about the film, telling Esquire in 2023 that he thinks he'll 'next 20 years regretting' acting choices in the film.

Unfortunately any concerns Mescal has over his performance will remain a mystery to us, as the film isn't going to hit our screens any time soon.

Might be worth setting a 20 year reminder for to remind us about this film.