Martin Scorsese settles lawsuit over Silence adaptation

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese has settled a breach of written contract lawsuit over a planned film adaptation of 1966 novel Silence. Producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori sued Scorsese back in 2012, alleging he invested $750,000 (£468,750) to help bring the Shusaku Endo book, about 17th century Jesuits who try to introduce the Japanese to the Christian religion, to the big screen.
However, he claims the director kept pushing back production on the movie, which was initially due to begin shooting in 1997, in favour of making Hugo, The Departed and Shutter Island first.
Scorsese was then expected to start work on Silence, only to then sign on to make The Wolf of Wall Street instead.
Gori demanded a cut of profits of “each feature film that Scorsese should direct after Hugo and before Silence (including without limitation Wolf of Wall Street)”, but the filmmaker challenged the suit, insisting he had been unable to commence production on Silence because financing had not been secured.
However, the two parties have since reached an agreement in the case, which was “settled in its entirety” on 17 January (14), according to papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Details about the deal have not been released, but Scorsese is now moving ahead with the long-awaited film, which he reportedly first committed to in 1990.
He has cast Liam Neeson to star alongside Andrew Garfield and Ken Watanabe. Production is expected to begin this summer (14) in Taiwan.