Paramount has released the first Silence poster ahead of the film’s trailer debut. For those who are unfamiliar with the picture, the story of two Jesuit priests (Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield) who go looking for their mentor (Liam Neeson) in 17th Century Japan, a time when outsiders, and especially Christians, were treated with disdain and mistrust.

Paramount is going to have to rush the marketing for the film a little bit since Scorsese takes his time to edit his pictures, but it shouldn’t be too damaging. Scorsese’s name carries a lot of weight, and he’s got another potential Oscar contender on his hands. In fact, every film Scorsese has done that has been released during the Oscar season has gone on to get at least a Best Picture nomination (Shutter Island was released in February and your film may as well not exist to Academy members if it comes out in the first quarter of the year).

While this is a nice poster, I’m very curious to see how the trailer will look since it will let us know how Paramount is planning to market the film. Are they going to sell it on Scorsese’s prestige, or are they going to play up the religious angle? Audiences who go see Allied this week will find out before the rest of us. The trailer will be released online on Saturday.

Check out the Silence poster below. The film opens December 23rd.

Here’s the official synopsis for Silence:

Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) – at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden. The celebrated director's 28-year journey to bring Shusaku Endo’s 1966 acclaimed novel to life will be in theaters this Christmas.