Adam Driver on prayer retreat with priests and Andrew Garfield: 'It was glaringly obvious who the two actors were'

NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Liam Neeson says his Silence co-stars Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield took their roles as 17th-century, Jesuit priests quite seriously.

"Adam and Andrew did a retreat in Wales -- a seven-day, silent retreat and did the spiritual exercises, too," Neeson said at a recent New York press conference promoting the film.

"Andrew did the 30-day, spiritual exercises. Yeah, we met at St. Beuno's with other Jesuits and it was glaringly obvious who the two actors were," laughed Driver, who was sitting beside Neeson. "But that was still fun to talk about later."

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film follows two Portuguese, Catholic missionaries as they search for their missing mentor, played by Neeson, in Japan where christianity is illegal and punishable by torture and/or death.

Silence is in theaters now.