Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' Adds Adam Driver to Cast

Adam Driver has joined Martin Scores's latest film "Silence."

Showbiz 411 is reporting that the "Girls" star will join Andrew Garfield ("The Amazing Spider-Man") and Ken Watanabe ("Inception," "Batman begins") in the Japanese thriller set in the 17th century.

The director confirmed the news at HBO's annual star-a-thon post-Golden Globes party and stated that shooting will commence next summer.

Back in May of 2013 the project was first announced with Scorsese recognizing that the project will be a hard sell like his films "Kundun" and "The Last Temptation of Christ." He stated "it is meant for a smaller audience than 'Shutter Island,' 'The Departed' and 'The Aviator.' Then again, it's a thriller. Thriller meaning they are undercover. I'm interested in this, whether it's undercover priests or undercover cops."

The director also acknowledged that he was not scared about making about film that dealt with Catholicism. He said, "Not at all. Certainly, it's a religious subject, but the mystery that I'm talking about, Rodrigues' conflict with himself, and the essence of Christianity - which is something I believe in strongly - is timeless, and has to do with who we are as human beings."

"Silence" will tell the story a Portuguese Jesuit who travels to Japan with a fellow priest amid rumors that Rodrigues' mentor has abandoned the Church. It is a moment of religious persecution in the Asian nation, with Christians forced to practice their faith clandestinely.

"Silence" will be produced by Emma Koskoff, Irwin Winkler, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Barbara De Fina and has been adapted from the Japanese novel of the same title by Jay Cocks.

Driver was recently seen in "Bluebird," "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Frances Ha." He will next be seen in "The Hungry Hearts" and "Midnight Special."

Scorsese recently directed the critically-acclaimed film "The Wolf of Wall Street." He also directed "Hugo," "The Departed," "The Aviator" and "Gangs of New York."