Andrew Garfield signs on for Scorsese’s Silence

It’s all system’s go on Martin Scorsese’s long gestating passion project Silence, as Variety reports Andrew Garfield has been signed for the leading role.

Garfield will star as a young Portuguese Jesuit who is sent to Japan in 1638; a time when Christian missionaries were being persecuted in the region.

Legendary Japanese actor Ken Watanabe will support Garfield as his local interpreter.

The film, which will be a mostly Japanese language production, has been on Scorsese’s radar ever since someone slipped him the novel not long after the premiere of The Last Temptation Of Christ, his last religious provocation from 25 years ago.

Scorsese is currently finishing post-production on The Wolf Of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio but has already pencilled in production on Silence to begin mid-2014.

It seems one of our greatest working filmmakers still has a few interesting projects up his sleeve.