It's rare that a film with so much Oscar buzz and a masterful director at the helm doesn't have a trailer to its name. That is what's happening with Martin Scorsese's "Silence" at the moment. The December 21st release date, which was announced recently, was a positive step forward. The film started shooting around the time I was at Sundance 2015, mid-January, but ever since principal photography wrapped in June of 2015, things have been very hush hush. In August Scorsese said the film would be completed in October. Well, it seems like he's still in the finishing stages of editing as we speak.
I've been asking around the last few weeks, trying to find people in the know, and it seems like Scorsese is still hard at work with this one. One anonymous source tells me, "Marty is deep at work on it so no show to anyone. Would be surprised if Brad Grey (Paramount Chairman and CEO) had seen any part of it. From what I've been hearing he has been tolling laboriously over the sound mix at the moment and it won't be done til the 11th hour." That can't be, can it? Grey hasn't seen it? What is the delay? Someone has told me that we can expect a trailer in October, but that the December release date, although official, might still be up in the air.
This is nothing new on Scorsese's part. He has been known to finish his movies, with longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker, in the 11th hour. I, for one, don't mind the obsessive editing because it means Scorsese has something most filmmakers seem to be lacking in this day and age of studio movies: creative freedom. Will the reported 195 minute running time stand?
Despite all the delays, December release "The Wolf of Wall Street" had its trailer land on June 13, 2013. So, no, you can't really compare what is happening to "Silence" with that film, which had its own set of delays and setbacks because a) Paramount wanted the original cut trimmed down and b) Scorsese had jury duty at the Marrakech Film Festival.
EDIT: 8.22.16 I had this to say about the film:
"Principal photography was completed in May of 2015. So you are telling me that its been more than 16 months since the damn thing concluded shooting? If released in December, it would be more than 20 months. You cannot wait until 2017 to release this thing. You cant release it 2 years after shooting. I am not blaming Paramount for this. Scorsese is supposedly still in the editing room with Thelma until October then, he was quoted as saying, it all depends on what Paramount wants to do with the film afterwards in terms of release date."
Can be read fully HERE