Scorsese considered Silence a "passion project": it had been in development since 1990, two years after the release of his film The Last Temptation of Christ, which also carried strongly religious themes.
Silence dianggap merupakan sebuah "proyek yang disenangi" dari Scorsese dan telah dikembangkan sejak 1990, dua tahun setelah perilisan film paling kontroversial Scorsese, The Last Temptation of Christ, yang juga sangat bertemakan keagamaan.