Actor/director Edward Burns has scrapped plans for a follow up to his popular 1995 comedy The Brothers McMullen and is developing a prequel instead.

The Saving Private Ryan star confirmed in 2011 that he was penning a sequel to the family drama, centring around three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island, New York, with plans for a release in 2014, but he has ditched the project because he simply wasn't a fan of his own work.

Taking to his Twitter.com blog, he writes, "I had to throw out the MCMullen sequel idea. I just didn't fall in love with any of the ideas I had about where to find them 20 yeas later. So instead of MCMullen sequel I'm writing a prequel. Set in 1986, Jack is a senior in college, Barry a senior in Hs (high school), Pat finishing 8th grade."

In the original movie, Burns portrayed Barry MCMullen, while his onscreen brother Patrick was played by Mike MCGlone and Jack Mulcahy was cast as his movie namesake. The film also starred a young Connie Britton in her feature acting debut.