The last time Martin Scorsese promised his long developing dream project "Silence" was "next," was after he had wrapped on "Hugo." But as always, something else came first, and this time it was his upcoming "The Wolf Of Wall Street," which started shooting last summer and only wrapped earlier this week. But as you might recall, over the summer Scorsese was sued by Cecchi Gori Pictures, the production company who have been backing development, as they were more or less finally fed up of seeing Scorsese do everything but make "Silence." Perhaps because of that little legal battle, the director is finally promising to make it next.
In case you forgot, the film is an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel about two 17th century Jesuit priests who face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and to spread the gospel of Christianity. Not exactly the stuff of tentpoles, but fascainting material nonetheless, and if you're Scorsese you can get the kind of actors who make it sellable (Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal linked to roles early on). But what about "The Irishman"? His long awaited reteaming with Robert De Niro? Well, it's moving along.
Apparently, Scorese recently held a table read at the Tribeca Film Center to help entice investors to finance the project that is set up at Paramount. The true story centers on Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a WWII veteran who led a colorful life as a high ranking officer in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters while also dabbling in organized crime as a highly-sought-after hitman. He reportedly also had ties to the deaths of President Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa, the latter who would be played by Al Pacino with Joe Pesci set for a role as well.
But as always, we'll see if this plan actually sticks. Scorese has also long been kicking around a Frank Sinatra biopic and who knows if something like 'Wolf' will come out of the blue and grab his attention first. But frankly, we'd love to see him finally make "Silence" and perhaps use a completely different set of cinematic tools in the process. [Deadline]