Funding Complete, Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' Will Go into Production This Month
The green light has been given to Martin Scorsese's long awaited passion project, Silence— an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel of the same name.
Scorsese has wanted to make Silence for a number of years and has spoken on numerous occasions for his enthusiasm for the project. With Paramount locked in to distribute the movie and now with the inclusion of Fábrica de Cine and SharpSword Films coming on-board to complete the funding, Silence will begin production this month and start shooting in Taiwan.
Silence will star Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Tadanobu Asano. The story of 17th-century Jesuit priests who attempt missionary work in Japan, will begin shooting on the 30th January 2015. Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York) wrote the script, and Paramount will handle the distribution of the movie domestically.
Scorsese said in a statement; "I’ve wanted to make Silence for almost two decades, and it is finally a reality. It is heartening to have adventurous partners like Fabrica and SharpSword to work with on this picture."
A description for Silence was also made available with the press release, show below;
Young Portuguese Jesuit Sebastião Rodrigues is sent to Japan to succor the local Church and investigate reports that his mentor, Fr. Cristóvão Ferreira, has committed apostasy. (Ferreira is a historical figure, who apostatised after torture and later married a Japanese woman and wrote a treatise against Christianity.)
Fr. Rodrigues and his companion Fr. Francisco Garrpe arrive in Japan in 1638. There they find the local Christian population driven underground. Security officials force suspected Christians to trample on fumie, which are crudely carved images of Christ. Those who refuse are imprisoned and killed. The novel relates the trials of the Christians and increasing hardship suffered by Rodrigues, as more is learnt about the circumstances of Ferreira’s apostasy.
