The Current War: First Shot of Benedict Cumberpatch as Thomas Edison. Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla

With filming on The Current War well underway in London, The Weinstein Company has released the first image from the highly-anticipated drama featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as legendary American inventor Thomas Edison.

Set in the late 1880s, THE CURRENT WAR details the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse and the race to create a marketable and sustainable electricity system. Edison championed the use of a direct current for electric power distribution over an alternating current, which was backed by Westinghouse Electric and a host of European companies.

“Edison and Westinghouse’s rivalry is the ultimate tale of competition driving ingenuity,” said Harvey Weinstein. “Theirs was a battle of intellect, a race of creativity and technological innovation that we see echoed in the self made inventors dominating spaces like Silicon Valley. We’re thrilled to start filming and to share this historical rivalry with audiences everywhere.”

In addition to Cumberbatch, The Current War stars Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) as George Westinghouse alongside. Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Tom Holland (Captain America: Civil War), Matthew Macfadyen (Anna Karenina), Tuppence Middleton(The Imitation Game) and Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Nikola Tesla. It is being directed by Alfosno Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl).

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Cant wait for this. Hopefully Tesla will be given more screentime than Westinghouse.

Anticipating this movie and waiting to see how historically accurate it is.

Thanks for sharing !

a reply to: Jungian

The whole dispute....between Tesla versus Edison...

I personally see as:

Help the human kind versus how to get filthy rich.

a reply to: Jungian

Oh this one looks good. I like this guy, can't wait to see it.

originally posted by: EartOccupant
The whole dispute....between Tesla versus Edison...

I personally see as:

Help the people versus how to get filthy rich.

Except it was between Westinghouse and Edison, Tesla worked for Westinghouse. For money. Lot's of it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Nice try, I think you can say a lot about Tesla... I know his controversies.

But money was not his goal.

a reply to: Jungian

I can't wait. Cumberbatch is good in anything he does. I personally wish he made less movies and we could be guaranteed more Sherlock, though. I hope the movie will be accurate. Thanks for posting.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

didn't telsa die poor ?

he was a fan of eugenics as well
wonder if that makes it into the movie....

originally posted by: EartOccupant
But money was not his goal.

So he worked for free? He started his own businesses to make what? Colored rocks and shells as income?

The guy lived his final years at the New Yorker Hotel, not exactly a dump for an allegedly ultra-altruistic man.

a reply to: kibric

With the amounts of patents he held...

I wonder if he was poor,
I do however believe that he was not interested in money as a goal.
He did however needed money to achieve his goals.

Don't buy the devaluation of Tesla's contribution's or drive that you will see coming forward in this topic.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Read my above replay.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

he died bankrupt i think

originally posted by: EartOccupant
I do however believe that he was not interested in money as a goal.

They why did he have a huge salary with Westinghouse or live in a luxury hotel?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: EartOccupant
But money was not his goal.

So he worked for free? He started his own businesses to make what? Colored rocks and shells as income?

The guy lived his final years at the New Yorker Hotel, not exactly a dump for an allegedly ultra-altruistic man.

Starting in 1934, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company began paying Tesla $125 per month as well as paying his rent at the Hotel New Yorker, expenses the Company would pay for the rest of Tesla's life. Accounts on how this came about vary. Several sources say Westinghouse was worried about potential bad publicity surrounding the impoverished conditions their former star inventor was living under.[171][172][173] It has been described as being couched in the form of a "consulting fee" to get around Tesla's aversion to accept charity, or by one biographer (Marc Seifer), as a type of unspecified settlement.[173]

Wiki

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

yes such an extravagant lifestyle
rarehistoricalphotos.com...

but again conflicting accounts
www.quora.com...

i'm not particularly a fan
but someone might be able to clarify the matter

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I have a hard time to believe these words are coming from you.

But ok.. I (try) to answer.

1. To finance his research
2. He did not care about owning property, he just wanted clean sheets and a meal while exploring his mind.

Any more questions ?

a reply to: reldra

In 1934 he was 77 years old. Find me someone else living on a the payroll of a huge corporation at a luxury hotel at 77.

The guy sucked at business which is why Westinghouse felt bad for outplaying him. Regardless, Tesla was not some altruistic aesthetic who forwent luxury. If he were a better business man he would have potentially died a millionaire.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: EartOccupant
The whole dispute....between Tesla versus Edison...

I personally see as:

Help the people versus how to get filthy rich.

Except it was between Westinghouse and Edison, Tesla worked for Westinghouse. For money. Lot's of it.

Yes and when tesla built a tower that could transmit electricity at far distances and couldnt be regulated for profit westinghouse shut it down and canned tesla. Tesla was trying to help the world he was a different breed of man. However he did come up with a deathray that could be used my the military "they never took him up on the offer" and tesla died pennyless and forgotten. Side note teslas house was raided after his death and his work siezed. Some of it is still probably considered top secret. Tesla was the real deal and probably smarter then albert Einstein by a long shot

a reply to: reldra

if you like his movies, why would you prefer him to do less?

originally posted by: EartOccupant
2. He did not care about owning property, he just wanted clean sheets and a meal while exploring his mind.

So why was he known as a serious clothes horse? For someone who you claim was indifferent to the fine things in life he certainly was known for his meticulous apparel. The guy was not aesthete. He liked nice things. Nice things that you get with money.