Let’s hope it’s a simple matter of miscommunication on someone’s part when Variety casually mention that Martin Scorsese‘s Silence, a film right near the top of our most-anticipated of 2015, is now being geared for a release in 2016. His decades-in-the-works passion project has been a bit slow to get off the ground, what with leads Andrew Garfield and Ken Watanabe having been cast in May of 2013, other announcements of that sort only trickling in since then, and the team of Fabrica de Cine and SharpSword Films just now securing the last bit of financing that will allow cameras to roll on January 30. Can he shoot, edit, and complete a historical epic between now and Paramount’s expected November release? It seems possible, but we’ll have to wait.
A different Scorsese project that, probably unlike Silence, finds itself in some genuine trouble is his long-gestating documentary on Bill Clinton. First announced in December of 2012, it’s been worked on in the time since but recently stalled on account of Hillary Clinton’s likely announcement for a Presidential bid — something that’s required a whole team of people to approve questions and, ultimately, the film’s final shape. After being in the middle of production, it’s “now indefinitely shelved” and “appears to be years away from completion.” Bummer. [The New York Times]
Need a bit of cheering-up? Here’s a new video essay on Scorsese, this one specifically concerned with his use of mirrors:
Scorsese: The Mirrors from Ali Shirazi on Vimeo.
Is this batch of news disappointing? What did you think of the video essay?