Silence trailer: ‘Hallucinatory’ footage from Martin Scorsese’s ‘seminal’ new film shown by Paramount

Liam Neeson in ‘Silence’, a film that was a passion project for director Scorsese

There’s only a couple of months to go before Martin Scorsese’s new offering Silence opens in cinemas and we still haven’t seen a trailer or even any footage from it.

The director is apparently still toiling away in the editing room, but while he isn’t ready to go public with a teaser, some clips were shown to press by Paramount last night.

Variety reports that they had a “hallucinatory” quality, involving “shots of a gaunt Liam Neeson dropping to his knees in prayer, images of Japanese men being hung on crosses, and cloud-flecked vistas of stunning mountainous countryside”.

Neeson plays the film’s Jesuit missionary protagonist, with Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield co-starring.

Based on a novel of the same name by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, Silence looks at persecution in the time of Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians") following the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion.

Paramount chief Brad Grey said that Scorsese has been trying to make the film for 28 years.

Release dates are still pretty vague, but Silence has been pencilled in for 1 January, 2017 in the UK.