Filming may have wrapped in May of last year, but since then, all has been quiet on the status of Martin Scorsese’s historical piece, Silence.
Boasting a cast that comprises Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Ciaran Hinds and Tadanobu Asano, an extended post-production meant that an official release timeline remained up in the air, but Screen Daily has unearthed a report suggesting that Paramount is aligning Scorsese’s passion project with an awards-friendly November release.
Inspired by Shûsaku Endô’s novel of the same name, Silence is situated in 17th century Nagasaki, Japan and charts Andrew Garfield’s Jesuit priest and his gruelling pilgrimage to reunite with a lonely mother. Along the way, both Garfield and Liam Neeson’s gaunt, bearded and deeply religious mentor hope to spread the gospel of Christianity in the face of violence and persecution.
In a previous interview, Neeson outlined the spiritual tenets of Scorsese’s religious opus, stating that “the question in the film is: Is there a god? We’re all in some way asking ourselves that all the time. What is the purpose of life? What is faith? Why have faith? Why do we wake up in the morning and get out of bed? It’s as basic as that and the film asks all these questions and dramatizes them in a very exceptional way.”
While we await an official confirmation from Paramount, it looks set that Silence will hit theaters in November. Don’t be too surprised if and when Scorsese’s feature crops up during the festival circuit later this year.