One of Martin Scorsese‘s longest-gestating projects, his priest drama Silence, finally completed production earlier this year, and with the director currently in the editing room, we have a few more updates on the film. An adaptation of Shûsaku Endô‘s novel, the story follows Andrew Garfield as Father Rodrigues, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit who travels to Japan with a fellow priest amid rumors that Rodrigues’ mentor has abandoned the Church.
While at a press conference at Las Ventanas Hotel, Variety picked up some comments from Liam Neeson, who plays the aforementioned mentor. Scorsese “gives 200%. All he requires is that you give 100%,” Neeson said, who lost 20 pounds for the role. “He’s intimidating. He requires absolute silence on the set — if he hears one tiny sound, it shatters it for him.”
With the production clocking in at around $51 million, it’s said that Scorsese is angling towards a Cannes debut, but the producers won’t rush the director if he needs more time. After all, Paramount aren’t planning to the release the film until late 2016. “It’s hard, it’s emotional — I think it will inspire a lot of debate,” producer Gaston Pavlovich says of the drama. As we await a trailer, check out a new still featuring Neeson in the highly anticipated feature.
If you missed Scorsese recently discussing the film, read on here.