Based on the novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo it is projected for a 2008 release. Early in 2006 Scorsese spoke of directing the movie, and a recent interview with his long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker in Time Out confirmed that this is his next film project. She is quoted saying "It's something very close to Scorsese's heart – he's wanted to make it for many years but he's never really had the time to write the script and get it funded. But we're all hoping that this time it's going to happen, and it looks like we're going to shoot it in New Zealand as well."

Silence is a novel by Shusaku Endo, about two Portuguese Jesuit priests, Sebastião Rodrigues and Francis Garrpe, who travel to seventeenth century Imperial Japan (which has isolated itself from all foreign contact) to see how the evangelical mission is going. There they witness the persecution of the Japanese Christians at the hands of their own government who wishes to purge Japan of all western influence. Eventually they separate and Rodrigues travels the country-side, wondering why God remains silent while His children suffer. Javier Bardem is set to star.