With a release date finally set for Martin Scorsese‘s long-gestating Silence — thankfully just two months away — we should be getting the trailer in no time, but first we have a new look. The director’s adaptation of Shusako Endo’s novel follows the story of two Jesuit priests in the seventeenth century who venture to Japan amid rumors that their mentor has abandoned the Church. Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, and Ciarán Hinds, one can see new image above, featuring Garfield and our first look at Driver’s character, as well as another below (via Le Point).
In related news, while Scorsese and longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker continue to whittle away in the edit room, as expected, the previously rumored three-hour-plus runtime has been reduced. Producer Irwin Winkler, who calls it “Marty’s best movie,” tells Deadline the film now clocks in at 2 hours and 39 minutes, just 20 minutes shorter than The Wolf of Wall Street.
“We went to Taiwan to make the movie, which is set in Japan in 1620,” production designer Dante Ferretti tells Variety, regarding his ninth collaboration with Scorsese. “I had prepared [for] this film five times before we actually got to shoot it because [previously] the money never came through. Previously I’d done scouting in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Northern California, Canada. Then we ended up making another movie with Martin [The Wolf of Wall Street]. Silence is my ninth movie with him. I also did the costumes for this film. Then we went to Taipei where there was a studio with affordable prices and the surrounding area looked like Japan. So we rebuilt a part of [ancient] Nagasaki and some villages and areas of Macao. The coast of Taiwan is quite similar to Japan.”
The Oscar winner also dropped a hint about when Scorsese plans to shoot his other long-gestating next feature, The Irishman. With a release window set for late 2018, we knew it would be getting off the ground sometime next year, but it looks like it may be earlier than expected. “We’ve talked about it; but we still have to see when and how it will be shot. I never say ‘I’m doing to do this or that’ until it’s signed,” Ferretti says, adding, “Theoretically we’ve talked about shooting this film next year in February or March.” Led by Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Bobby Cannavale, as it stands now, The Irishman is a crime drama about Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a mob hitman whose illustrious career is today best-known for a supposed involvement in the death of Jimmy Hoffa.
As we await updates on both highly-anticipated Scorsese projects, check out our feature on The Departed as it recently turned 10, and, below, watch the director introduce Marlon Brando‘s One-Eyed Jacks at this year’s New York Film Festival (via Film Linc):
Silence opens on December 23.