Related: Martin Scorsese Commits To ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’You can read the lawsuit here.

Cecchi Gori Pictures and Cecchi Gori USA filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court today against director Martin Scorsese and his production company Sikelia Productions.

Cecchi Gori says it invested more than $750,000 to develop the book Silence into a feature flick based on contracts and assurances by Scorsese and Sikelia that it would be Scorsese’s next project.

Scorsese initally agreed in 1990 to co-produce and direct Silence after he completed Kundun (1997). But the lawsuit alleges Scorsese and Sikelia arranged to postpone starting on Silence so the director could make The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and Hugo (2011). Earlier this year, Deadline reported that Scorsese planned to make The Wolf Of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio. This was news to Cecchi Gori, which notified Scorsese/Sikelia of their alleged breach of contract on Silence and for not paying the agreed-upon financial and production credit consideration for Hugo.

Silence is based on the novel by Shusako Endo about Portuguese Jesuit missionaries who are sent to Japan to investigate reports of Christians persecuted and tortunre by the Emperor of Japan.... See Complete Article @ Deadline Hollywood