In early 2009, Christmas appeared to arrive ten months early when an amazing cinephile prospect was announced: Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal in a film directed by Martin Scorsese.
The picture was to be an adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s “Silence,” a drama about 17th century Jesuit Priests, and perhaps a hard commercial sell, but a project we wanted to see regardless (especially because of the cast involved).
“Everything was ready for ‘Silence’,” Scorsese said earlier this year, confirming reports from 2009 that the picture would shoot in the spring of 2010. “But the film was shifted to be shot immediately after this project [Hugo Cabret].”
In a revealing piece by Deadline about a legal feud between former producing partners Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Giannani Nunnari, an interesting history regarding “Silence” is carefully detailed. We’ll try and keep the boring legalese to a minimum, but essentially the rights to the Shusaku Endo novel with Scorsese attached were first acquired by Cecchi Gori Pictures (Nunnari was running the Hollywood offices at the time, before their split). However, the title quietly transferred solely into Nunnari’s name (something that he would do for a number of CGP titles) in 2001 with an 18-month option for a paltry $5000 against a purchase price of $786,000. When Scorsese didn’t follow through on a promise to direct the film after “Kundun” — he would deliver a one-two punch of “My Voyage To Italy” and “Bringing Out The Dead” in 1999 instead — the director purchased the rights and paid Nunnari an additional $1 million. Total cost of “Silence” so far with absolutely nothing filmed? $1.76 million. Welcome to Hollywood.
There would be another occasion where Scorsese’s failure to make “Silence” would turn into Nunnari’s gain. When the director broke a second promise to make the film after “The Aviator,” Nunnari instead received producer credits on “The Departed” and “Shutter Island” leading to millions more in Nunnari’s pockets. The film not getting made is probably the best thing to ever happen for the producer.
With Nunnari and Gori still battling it out in court, and the finances still left to be settled, we don’t see “Silence” getting made until the dust has settled, which is a shame. For a director who once considered joining the clergy, the project is as personal as it gets for the filmmaker, but for now, it seems lost in the wheeling and dealing of Hollywood players. For now, you can file it alongside the likes of “Frankie Machine,” “The Wolf Of Wall Street” and “I Heard You Paint Houses” as might-have-beens and maybe-in-the-future projects for Scorsese.