Martin Scorsese sued over film he never made

Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese is being sued for breach of contract after he apparently stalled production on a film he signed on to direct 22 years ago.

Scorsese has been linked to a remake of a Japanese film entitled 'Silence' for years now, but projects such as 'The Departed', 'Shutter Island', 'Hugo' and now his next film 'The Wolf of Wall Street' have kept the date of production forever moving away.

In a lawsuit filed this Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Cecchi Gori Pictures, the production company headed by Vittorio Cecchi Gori, claims that they have a contract with Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions company to make the film dating way back to 1990.

According to the documents (which were obtained by The Hollywood Reporter), the 'Taxi Driver' filmmaker was suppposed to make 'Silence' after 1997's 'Kundun'.

Scorsese frequently revamped the contract so he could make other pictures, at a cost to himself - apparently between $1m and $1.5m for each film he made instead. The lawsuit is stating that they were never paid their delay fee for Best Picture nominee 'Hugo' and are seeking compensation.

'Silence' is a novel by Shusaku Endo which was made into the celebrated 1971 Masahiro Shinoda film. Attached to Scorsese's remake are stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal. The plot sees 17th century Jesuit preists persecuted by the Japanese when they try to spread the word of Christianity as a test of faith ensues when their god remains 'silent' during their struggle.
 

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