The developmental process in Hollywood can be slow and arduous, something Martin Scorsese is well aware of. 'Gangs of New York' was a film he wanted to make in 1979, but it took twenty-three years to finally get it to the big screen. It seems that he's going through a similar struggle to adapt 'Silence,' based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, as he has been attached to it since 1991. But now there's light at the end of this tunnel.

Deadline is reporting that Martin Scorsese is gearing up to shoot the picture in Taiwan next year, and that it will likely be officially announced at this year's Cannes film festival. Scorsese has been attached the project for so long that there were lawsuits drawn against him for the delay, and a number of actors (including Daniel Day-Lewis) have been attached to the project over the course of the two decades that it's been in development.

But it's easy to see why Scorsese has been so attached to the project: Endo's novel is about 17th century Missionaries trying to bring Christianity to Japan only to face resistance from the government. Following films like 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and 'Kundun,' this seems like the sort of material that's tailor-made for one of America's greatest directors.

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