Andrew Garfield will star in Martin Scorese's latest film "Silence."
The Spider-Man actor will join Ken Watanabe in the film that surrounds the very roots of religious faith. The film is one of the Scorsese's most personal films as the topic has fascinated him for years. He stated "It's something that has always been part of my life," he says. "It's difficult for people to understand who are not part of that world that I grew up in, which was Roman Catholicism in New York City in the 1950s. I was impressed enough to try to become part of that world, and realized at the age of 15 or 16 that it was much tougher, much more complicated than I thought ... in terms of vocation."
Garfield will play Father Rodrigues, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit who travels to Japan with a fellow priest amid rumors that Rodrigues' mentor has abandoned the Church. It is a moment of religious persecution in the Asian nation, with Christians forced to practice their faith clandestinely. Watanabe will portray the priests' interpreter, alongside a Japanese cast that includes Issei Ogata.
Scorsese recognized that the project will be a hard sell like his films "Kundun" and "The Last Temptation of Christ." He stated "it is meant for a smaller audience than 'Shutter Island,' 'The Departed' and 'The Aviator.' Then again, it's a thriller. Thriller meaning they are undercover. I'm interested in this, whether it's undercover priests or undercover cops."
Scorsese also suggested that his frequent collaborator Robbie Robertson would be part of the project. He stated, "He and I started talking about this a year and a half ago, before I started 'Wolf,' about ideas for certain kinds of sounds."
When asked if he was scared of making a film about Catholicism, he said "Not at all. Certainly, it's a religious subject, but the mystery that I'm talking about, Rodrigues' conflict with himself, and the essence of Christianity - which is something I believe in strongly - is timeless, and has to do with who we are as human beings."
The film will be adapted from the Japanese novel of the same title by Jay Cocks and will begin shooting next summer. "Silence" will be produced by Emma Koskoff, Irwin Winkler, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Barbara De Fina.