The marketing machine for this one has been beyond slow in ramping up, but we now have the very first trailer for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar favorite, Silence. The film is arriving in limited release on December 23rd before going wide in January, but up until tonight, all we’d seen from it were a few images and a poster or two. Though that may have had some people worried, the first trailer has now debuted to ease those fears and we must say, the wait was worth it.
And oh what a wait it was. You’d have to cast your mind back to the year 1990 to locate the moment when Martin Scorsese first came attached to Silence, a new interpretation of Shūsaku Endō’s novel that has since developed into a full-blown passion project for the veteran director.
In those intervening years, the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio del Toro and Gael García Bernal all flirted with the religious opus, before Silence was effectively placed on ice as Scorsese’s attention was drawn to a handful of other projects – think Shutter Island, Hugo and The Wolf of Wall Street. But time wore on, and eventually the pieces began to fall into place, starting with the casting of Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson as two Jesuit priests bound on a pilgrimage to feudal Japan.
As for this first trailer, well, it’s got Oscar written all over it, presenting some thought provoking material and a series of stellar performances from just about everyone involved. All in all, it looks like another masterpiece from the legendary Martin Scorsese and while it’s too early to say for sure, we’re feeling fairly confident that it’ll be a serious contender for some Academy Awards.
Silence will be with us on December 23rd and if this trailer is an accurate representation of the final product, which it most likely is, then you’d best mark this one down in your calendar.
Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) — at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden. The celebrated director’s 28-year journey to bring Shusaku Endo’s 1966 acclaimed novel to life will be in theaters this Christmas.