Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson saddle up for a life-altering pilgrimage in these new photos for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-tipped period drama, Silence.
Hailing from Cinema Em Cena and Yahoo Japan – as relayed by The Playlist – here we see Garfield in the role of a Portuguese Jesuit priest who, along with Adam Driver’s pastor, makes tracks for feudal Japan to locate his wayward mentor, Cristóvão Ferreira (Neeson). Also starring Tadanobu Asano (Thor) and Yosuke Kubozuka, Silence has been pitched as a “meditative and brutal” cinematic experience, and the fact that Scorsese’s epic draws inspiration from the true-life tale penned by Shusaku Endo only ramps up the movie’s Oscar credentials.
Elsewhere, while talking to Fandango, Andrew Garfield spoke a little more about the ambience of Martin Scorsese’s passion project: “It’s a very mysterious film and I can’t quite put it into words. Every time me and Marty would try to get to the bottom of its themes and what the character is going through, we would wind up talking for two to three hours, and every time there would be five minutes of silence at the end because we had exhausted the conversation and had no answers, only more questions. Then he’d look at me and go, ‘Okay kid, until next time…’ ”
Despite the religious undertones, the actor goes on to reveal that Silence is, in many ways, a fairly violent film, and we know from previous releases that Martin Scorsese isn’t exactly a director to shy away from the nitty gritty.
“There is a lot of violence in it, but it’s done in a very different way,” Garfield added. “It’s a very specific type of brutality that was being done reluctantly, and yet with this Japanese eloquence —it had a real seduction about it. It’s really fascinating…”
Silence is pegged for limited release on December 23. Martin Scorsese’s religious opus isn’t the only awards vehicle starring Garfield though, as he also has Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge waiting in the wings. Look for that one to open opposite Doctor Strange on November 4.