Martin Scorsese is finally getting close to making Silence, the adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel that he has been working on for nearly two decades. The legendary director has cast Andrew Garfield and Ken Watanabe in two lead roles.
The news was revealed in an interview Scorsese gave to Variety, which reported that production is set to start in June 2014. IT will be his follow-up to The Wolf of Wall Street, which hits theaters this fall.
According to Indiewire, the plot of the book centers on a Jesuit priest (Garfield) who travels to 17th century Japan to find his mentor, who has rumored to have left the church. Watanabe will play the priest’s translator.
Religion has been a key aspect of several of Scorsese’s films in the past. “It’s something that has always been part of my life,” he told Variety. “It’s difficult for people to understand who are not part of that world that I grew up in, which was Roman Catholicism in New York City in the 1950s. I was impressed enough to try to become part of that world, and realized at the age of 15 or 16 that it was much tougher, much more complicated than I thought … in terms of vocation.”
The film is being co-financed by emmett/Furla Films and Paul Breuls’ Corsan Films. Robbie Robertson might do the soundtrack, Scorsese hinted.
When asked if the current unflattering headlines surrounding the Catholic Church might dissuade him from making the picture, Scorsese said no. “Certainly, it’s a religious subject, but the mystery that I’m talking about, Rodrigues’ conflict with himself, and the essence of Christianity — which is something I believe in strongly — is timeless, and has to do with who we are as human beings.”
The Wolf of Wall Street is slated for a Nov. 23 release. Garfield is currently working on The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
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