Silence is set to be Martin Scorsese's longest film yet
It's three hours and then some
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Your support makes all the difference.Silence is a film about enduring decades of persecution, so it’s perhaps fitting that it’s going to be an unforgivingly long watch.
The movie is a passion project for Scorsese that he’s been trying to get made since 1991. Based on a novel of the same name by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, it centres on a Jesuit missionary sent to 17th century Japan in the time of Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians") following the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion.
Variety reporter Kris Tabley has seen an early cut, and decided to quiz his followers on its sizeable runtime:
Three hours and 15 minutes. That’s longer than The Wolf of Wall Street (three hours) and previous longest Scorsese film record-holder Casino (two hours and 58 minutes).
It’s very possible Paramount Pictures might ask him to cut it down a little, but you can still expect a pretty epic piece of cinema.
Liam Neeson stars in Silence, with the cast also featuring Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield, Tadanobu Asano, Ciarán Hinds, Shinya Tsukamoto, Yōsuke Kubozuka and Issey Ogata.
It doesn’t yet have a release date but has been pencilled in for November/December, putting it in contention for the 2017 Oscars.
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