The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)

The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas A. Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.

Director:

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Writer:

Michael Mitnick

Stars:

Benedict Cumberbatch, Oliver Powell, Sophia Ally

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Benedict Cumberbatch	...	Thomas Alva Edison
Oliver Powell	...	Leo
Sophia Ally	...	Dot (Younger)
Tuppence Middleton	...	Mary Edison
Woody Norman	...	Dash (Younger)
Tom Holland	...	Samuel Insull
Matthew Macfadyen	...	J.P. Morgan
Dominic Coleman	...	White House Butler
Corey Johnson	...	President Chester A. Arthur
Katherine Waterston	...	Marguerite Westinghouse
Michael Shannon	...	George Westinghouse
Stanley Townsend	...	Franklin Pope
Nicholas Hoult	...	Nikola Tesla
Emma Davies	...	Female Reporter
Nigel Whitmey	...	Doctor Grandoff

Storyline

Three brilliant visionaries set off in a charged battle for the future in The Current War, the epic story of the cutthroat competition that literally lit up the modern world. Benedict Cumberbatch is Thomas Edison, the celebrity inventor on the verge of bringing electricity to Manhattan with his radical new DC technology. On the eve of triumph, his plans are upended by charismatic businessman George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who believes he and his partner, the upstart genius Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), have a superior idea for how to rapidly electrify America: with AC current. As Edison and Westinghouse grapple for who will power the nation, they spark one of the first and greatest corporate feuds in American history, establishing for future Titans of Industry the need to break all the rules. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) with Producer Timur Bekmambetov, Basil Iwanyk and Executive Producer Martin Scorsese, The Current War also stars ...

---

Plot Keywords:

world's fair | 1893 columbian exposition | based on true story | lens flare | chicago illinois | 

---

Taglines:

Power changes everything.

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violent content and thematic elements

Did You Know?

Trivia

First time Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland working together. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) soon followed.

---

Goofs

Edison and Westinghouse meet at the Chicago World Fair in front of an old lady demonstrating Chinese calligraphy. At the start of the conversation, the lady starts writing the character for Da but in a later overhead shot, the character has not been written. The camera changes back to the previous angle and the lady is completing the character. Da means 'great' or 'big'.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Thomas Edison: To all whom it may concern, be it known that I, Thomas Alva Edison, submits on this, the 27th day of January, 1880, the application of this abstract to the Patent Office of the United States of America. The unique design of my invention is that of a glass vacuum tube which houses inside a thin cotton thread filament, the two lower ends of which secure respective posts, forming an arch shape. Details and schematic drawings follow exhibiting all aspects of the invention. But its ...

---

Alternate Versions

The film originally premiered at numerous festival and was then shelved for 2 years until a re-edited version (titled "The Current War: The Director's Cut") was released theatrically in 2019

---

Connections

Featured in The Sara Cox Show: Episode #1.31 (2019)

---

Soundtracks

Autumn 3
Written by Max Richter
Performed by Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Raphael Alpermann, Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin, Andre De Ridder (as André de Ridder)
Published by Mute Song Limited
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Tesla, Westinghouse & Edison... the Real story?

Thought the casting on Cumberbatch's behalf was odd as he doesn't resemble nor act as you would suspect Edison to act (on the uncharacteristic side). Others in the cast seemed right. I've read where people argued the story-line of the movie vs. actual, and I've done a lot of reading on Edison and Tesla and actually found it very close.. plus the AC vs. DC rivalry with Westinghouse (including electrocution) to be VERY accurate. The story doesn't have a lot of "wow" to it (like a fictitious story would), but considering it based on real-life, it felt right. Oddly, the focus seemed to be heavy on Edison, yet the aspect of the story with Edison/Westinghouse truly MAKING AC work (and the person truly on the "shaft end of the stick") was Tesla!! The characterization of Tesla really left a massive untold story of pure genius receiving the most unfair treatment (though touched upon). YES.. Edison DID tell him he'd pay him a huge amount if he could figure out the problem.. and YES.. Edison did say "he was joking" (as in real life). It mentions Edison's venture into film, but if the film makers wanted to tell a more interesting story about Edison, it might be about his film work and competition with the Lumière brothers (the two brothers who actually were the real leaders of motion pictures. There are horror stories of Edison hiring hit men to show up where people were filming with Lumière film equipment to beat them up and destroy the equipment. Edison is portrayed a bit of a victim in this movie, but it seems that he really was anything BUT that. It seems that whoever wrote the screen play or story didn't know enough about Tesla to really portray him as the real victim he was, nor recognize Edison's very underhanded way of sometimes doing things. The film points out (justifiably) that often people credited with inventions are really just the person getting the last development in (not truly the original inventor). I'd LOVE to see Scorsese do a complete story focused on Tesla. THAT'S the REAL story here!

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Instagram

Country:

USA Russia UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

25 October 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Current War: Director's Cut

Filming Locations:

Waltham Abbey, Essex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,633,717, 27 October 2019

Gross USA:

$5,979,540

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,217,160

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bazelevs Production, Film Rites, Fourth Floor Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1