Day-Lewis, Del Toro and Bernal Break the ‘Silence’

Finally. After more than a decade on the backburner, Marty Scorsese is three steps closer to realizing The Silence. Gangs of New York/The Age of Innocence actor Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro (The Wolf Man) and Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) might compare notes on how they interpreted versions of Che – the trio of actors would insure that global audiences pay to see a pair of 17th century Jesuit priests. Variety reports that Scorsese and Graham King’s GK are only in the negotiating stages right now.

This is an adaptation of a Japanese novel by Shusaku Endo, set in sixteenth century Japan, where Portuguese missionaries must contend with traders from rival European nations and the persecution of Christians by Japanese feudal lords. The feudal lords want to drive Christianity out of Japan, and try to do so by torturing priests into apostasy, denying their faith. This is done symbolically by stepping on a “fumie,” a Christian image, like a picture of Mary or a crucifix. Two Portuguese priests, Sebastian Rodrigues and Francis Garrpe, make a dangerous journey to Japan, both to locate and comfort Japanese converts, and to discover the truth about a supposed apostate priest, Ferreira.