When the first word about Brad Silberling’s dark indie drama An Ordinary Man first broke back in 2010, it had Liam Neeson circling the lead. Well, Neeson is no longer attached, but Silberling has found a more than adequate replacement, with Brendan Gleeson signing on.

Gleeson will co-star alongside Abbie Cornish in the tale of a relationship between a wanted war criminal hiding from prosecution and his maid, who becomes his only real form of human contact.

The criminal at the centre of the story is loosely based on Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 in his prison cell at the Hague.

Gleeson seems like a solid choice for the role, as he’s proved able to bring deeply unlikeable characters to life in the past while still digging up some humanity to layer on top of the loathsome behaviour.

Silberling hasn’t made a movie since 2009’s critically mauled and largely ignored Land Of The Lost, and he’ll be hoping to get back on track with this one. With his leads in place and backing from Radiant Films (which is selling rights to the movie at Cannes), he’s looking to start shooting this autumn in Serbia.

Cornish most recently worked on immigrant drama The Girl and has also shot Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths. Gleeson has a role in The Smurfs 2 and will also appear in a McDonagh film, re-teaming with John Michael McDonagh for Calvary this summer.