Shusaku Endo’s acclaimed novel ‘Silence’ is set to hit the big screen with Martin Scorsese in the director’s chair.
Liam Neeson has signed on to star in Jay Cock’s upcoming adaption of the novel. Neeson will play a priest who goes missing during a trip to Japan. Father Rodrigues (Neeson) tries to find out if his mentor has left the church but his mission is complicated by the fact that religious persecution is rife in the country.
Neeson is joined by Andrew Garfield (Spiderman) and Ken Watanabe (Inception). Watanabe plays the part of the priest's Japanese interpreter.
The script is produced by Irwin Winkler, Randall Emmett and George Furla, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Checchi Gori, Barbara DeFina and Paul Breuls, with Niels Juul exec producing.
Neeson will reunite with his ‘Gangs Of New York’ director for the movie. Scorsese is planning to begin production later this year in Taiwan where he can finally get to work on the drama that has been bubbling in his head since he read Endo’s novel 25 years ago.
This news follows Neeson’s deal to reprise his role as retired CIA agent Bryan Mills in 'Taken 3'. He is also in negotiations for drama 'Highwaymen' and will soon be heard as a Bad Cop/Good Cop police officer in ‘The Lego Movie’, due out February 14th.
The Irishman will also play air marshal Bill Marks in Universal's action movie 'Non-Stop', which will be released on February 28th.
‘Non-Stop’ can be previewed below:
