After breaking out on Girls, Adam Driver‘s has been rapidly heating up. The young actor has been rumored for roles in Batman vs. Superman and the Star Wars sequels, and most audiences haven’t even seen how good he is in Michael Dowse‘s comedy The F Word (my review from TIFF). Now, according to Showbiz411, Driver has netted a lead role in Martin Scorsese‘s next film, Silence. Scorsese’s adaptation of Shusaku Endo‘s historical novel has been on the director’s back-burner for years, and last year we reported that Andrew Garfield and Ken Watanabe had been cast. The story centers on two 17th-century Jesuit priests who travel to Japan to investigate claims of religious persecution. Garfield is playing one of the priests, and presumably Driver is playing the other one since most of the cast will be Japanese. Watanabe is playing their translator.

Hit the jump for the synopsis of Endo’s book. According to Showbiz 411, Silence will start shooting next summer.

Here’s the synopsis for Shusaku Endo’s Silence: