For those of you fighting hangovers from Super Bowl parties or the fact that the best film opening nationwide last weekend was “Taken,” this news might serve as the cure-all for whatever ails you. Director Martin Scorsese wants to make the drama “Silence” his next film, as he and Graham King’s GK Films are negotiating to get Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro to star, according to Variety. Add Gael Garcia Baenal for the thespian trifecta, who is in early talks to land a part, and you can see why we’re more than a bit giddy about the prospects of this one.
The film, adapted by Jay Cocks from the Shusako Endo novel, would star Day-Lewis and Del Toro as two Jesuit priests in the 17th century subjected to violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to find their mentor and spread the word of Christianity. Ladies and gentlemen, here is your front-runner in Oscar hype, should it get made.
The film currently has no domestic distributor, but we are going out on a limb in a guess that someone will show it some love. Hell, we will attach our name to it right now based on Day-Lewis and Scorsese’s track record together. The two previously teamed up on “Gangs of New York” and ‘The Age of Innocence.”
Scorsese and King aren’t exactly strangers themselves, having worked together on “The Departed,” “Gangs of New York” and “The Aviator.” So you could do worse.
We do have to admit our thoughts turned to Depeche Mode based on the prospects of writing a future review with the tagline “Enjoy the Silence,” and aren’t sure how to feel about that. We’re sure Depeche Mode is just happy to have their name mentioned in an article.
Jeffrey Wells reminds everyone that no one, including Scorsese is is 100% locked in. He also reminds fanboys to not get too excited and says, this is “going to be a grim slide, Catholic guilt suffer-fest in Jesuit robes.”
It’s not like any of them paid to see “Doubt,” or even “The Age of Innocence.” [ed. still have my ticket stub somewhere]. He continues and warns, “Remember the tragic-downer tone of Scorsese’s previous two collaborations with Day-Lewis — The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York. Keep in mind the catatonic stupor that enveloped viewers of Kundun, Scorsese’s last exploration of spirituality in an exotic culture. If it gets made, Silence will almost certainly be showered with admiration and respect from critics, and lose money hand over fist in commercial theaters.” He could very well be right.