Silence: First look at Adam Driver in Martin Scorsese's newest film

Though the film has been noticeably absent from the festival circuit, it's still on track for an Oscar-friendly holiday release

Ironically, there's been a strange silence surrounding Martin Scorsese's next film, er... Silence.

Both a major awards contender and gargantuan cinematic event in of itself, repeated delays have essentially seen it drop out of the festival circuit as a whole; though it's still on track for a holiday season release, making it a prime contender for the Oscars and a major threat to current favourite La La Land.

The film has been pushed back repeatedly over the years, with Scorsese opting to make The Departed, Shutter Island, Hugo and The Wolf of Wall Street first. Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio del Toro were among the actors originally in negotiations to star in 2009, with production finally beginning in Taiwan in 2014 with a budget of $50 million.

The director has previously spoken about the project being his "obsession"; with its fairly lax schedule and festival absence presumably explained by a preference for perfectionism over early hype, not that Scorsese's a director ever in need of extra hype.

Playlist has provided a brief updated on the film's editing process, however; with the film now running 2 hours and 39 minutes, shaved down from previous cuts that ran in excess of three hours. No word yet on when we can expect the final cut to be completed, or for the film's first trailer to drop; though an early image has appeared online revealing Adam Driver's character.

Based on the novel of the same name by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, the story centres on two Jesuits sent to Japan to preach Christianity and seek out their mentor in the year 1670. Once there, they endure brutal persecution at the time of the Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) following the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion.

Silence stars Liam Neeson, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield in the leads, with Ciaran Hinds, Tadanobu Asano and Shinya Tsukamoto also among the cast. The screenplay was penned by Jay Cocks, who worked with Scorsese on Gangs of New York and The Age of Innocence.

The film hits UK cinemas 6 January 2017.