The trailer for Hollywood’s next major epic, Silence, has been released, marking the culmination of 26 years of work for its director, Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese first began thinking about adapting the 1966 novel of the same name by Japanese author Shusaku Endo back in 1990.

Since then, the film has found and lost several lead actors, including Daniel Day Lewis and Benicio Del Toro, faced financing issues and even been the subject of two court cases regarding its writing credits and its lengthy development.

Now set for release in Australian cinemas on February 16, the film stars Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit priests who travel to Japan to retrieve their mentor (played by Liam Neeson), who has disappeared after seemingly abandoning the faith.

The pair encounters violence, crucifixion and culture shock, prompting them to question their faith.

Speaking to Deadline in 2013, Scorsese described the film as “an obsession” for him.

“My initial interests in life were very strongly formed by what I took seriously at that time, and 45-50 years ago I was steeped in the Roman Catholic religion,” the 74-year-old director said.

“As you get older, ideas go and come. Questions, answers, loss of the answer again, and more questions, and this is what really interests me.

“Silence is just something that I’m drawn to in that way. It’s been an obsession, it has to be done and now is the time to do it. It’s a strong, wonderful true story, a thriller in a way, but it deals with those questions.”

According to Esquire, the film’s original cut was three hours long, but that’s since been reduced to two hours and 39 minutes.

Watch the trailer below