The Current War (2017)

Directed by

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Genre

drama film, biographical film, historical drama

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 47m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 1,162 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to decide which electric power system will light up the United States in the late 1800s. The film follows their rivalry and the business and personal moves they make to win.

competitivetensecerebralstylizedperioddrivendramatic

What happens

The Current War is a 2017 historical drama film inspired by the 19th-century competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over which electric power delivery system would be used in the United States (often referred to as the "war of the currents"). Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, written by Michael Mitnick, and executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison, Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla, and Tom Holland as Samuel Insull, alongside Katherine Waterston, Tuppence Middleton, Matthew Macfadyen and Damien Molony. Announced in May 2012, Gomez-Rejon was confirmed in September 2015. Cumberbatch, Shannon, and Hoult joined the cast by October 2016, and filming began in England that December. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2017. Originally to be distributed by The Weinstein Company, the film was shelved and sold in November 2017 following the sexual abuse allegations made against Harvey Weinstein. It was eventually bought by Weinstein Company successor Lantern Entertainment, which then sold domestic distribution rights to 101 Studios. After discovering a final cut privilege clause in Scorsese's contract, Gomez-Rejon convinced him to allow for reshoots and to trim ten minutes off the original version's runtime, resulting in the film that was eventually released into theaters. The film was released in the United States on October 25, 2019. The film received generally mixed reviews, with praise towards the cast's performances and the intriguing story, but with criticism towards the overall execution. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Edison, the Man (1940)
• Young Tom Edison (1940)
• Tesla (2020)
• The American Epic Sessions (2017)
• The Greatest Showman (2017)
• Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
• A Great Awakening (2026)
• The Professor and the Madman (2019)