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The Current War: Director's Cut

Original title: The Current War
  • 2017
  • PG-13
  • 1h 42m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
29K
YOUR RATING
Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Holland in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
Edison. Westinghouse. Tesla. 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.
Play trailer2:30
12 Videos
76 Photos
BiographyDramaHistory

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.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.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
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    29K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
    • Writer
      • Michael Mitnick
    • Stars
      • Benedict Cumberbatch
      • Oliver Powell
      • Sophia Ally
    • 240User reviews
    • 118Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos12

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:30
    Watch Official Trailer
    International Trailer
    Trailer 2:27
    Watch International Trailer
    The Current War: Director's Cut: I Didn't Take Your Ideas
    Clip 1:04
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: I Didn't Take Your Ideas
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Only Because You Said It Will
    Clip 1:03
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Only Because You Said It Will
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Mary Talk
    Clip 0:52
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Mary Talk
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Did I Mention That His System's Lethal
    Clip 0:45
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Did I Mention That His System's Lethal
    The Current War: Director's Cut: What A Roaring Silence
    Clip 0:50
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: What A Roaring Silence
    The Current War: Director's Cut: At The End Of The Day I Had Two Dollars
    Clip 0:41
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: At The End Of The Day I Had Two Dollars
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Misfortune Does Not Trump Progress
    Clip 0:50
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Misfortune Does Not Trump Progress
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Benedict Cumberbatch On Thomas Edison
    Featurette 1:08
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Benedict Cumberbatch On Thomas Edison
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Matthew Macfadyen On J.P. Morgan
    Featurette 0:25
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Matthew Macfadyen On J.P. Morgan
    The Current War: Director's Cut: Tuppence Middleton On The Modern Elements Of Mary's Character
    Featurette 0:41
    Watch The Current War: Director's Cut: Tuppence Middleton On The Modern Elements Of Mary's Character

    Photos76

    Benedict Cumberbatch and Tuppence Middleton in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Michael Shannon in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch and Louis Ashbourne Serkis in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch and Leonard Adam at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Michael Shannon and Benedict Cumberbatch at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Nicholas Hoult at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Michael Shannon at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
    Benedict Cumberbatch at an event for The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    • Thomas Alva Edison
    Oliver Powell
    Oliver Powell
    • Leo
    Sophia Ally
    • Dot (Younger)
    Tuppence Middleton
    Tuppence Middleton
    • Mary Edison
    Woody Norman
    Woody Norman
    • Dash (Younger)
    Tom Holland
    Tom Holland
    • Samuel Insull
    Matthew Macfadyen
    Matthew Macfadyen
    • J.P. Morgan
    Dominic Coleman
    Dominic Coleman
    • White House Butler
    Corey Johnson
    Corey Johnson
    • President Chester A. Arthur
    Katherine Waterston
    Katherine Waterston
    • Marguerite Westinghouse
    Michael Shannon
    Michael Shannon
    • George Westinghouse
    Stanley Townsend
    Stanley Townsend
    • Franklin Pope
    Nicholas Hoult
    Nicholas Hoult
    • Nikola Tesla
    Emma Davies
    Emma Davies
    • Female Reporter
    Nigel Whitmey
    Nigel Whitmey
    • Doctor Grandoff
    Simon Manyonda
    Simon Manyonda
    • Lewis Latimer
    Celyn Jones
    Celyn Jones
    • Sherman Quincy
    Iain McKee
    Iain McKee
    • Reporter
    • Director
      • Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
    • Writer
      • Michael Mitnick
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017 and was originally supposed to be released in U.S. theaters in November 2017 . However, after Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct and rape by several women in a detailed article published by the New York Times in October 2017, the Weinstein Co. scrapped the original release date and sold the film to Lantern Entertainment, who later sold the film's U.S. distribution rights to 101 Studios. The film would finally be shown in movie theaters in Europe in July 2019 and the U.S. in October 2019.
    • Goofs
      The film is set in a time period spanning the 1880s and 1890s. Maps shown in the film show the states of Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona, which didn't become a state until between 1896 and 1912.
    • Quotes

      Samuel Insull: So, what's your trade?

      Nikola Tesla: I fix problems for idiots.

    • 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 Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Benedict Cumberbatch/Savannah Guthrie/Andy Grammer feat. Lunchmoney Lewis (2017)
    • 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 reviews240

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    If you aren't expecting a Tesla-worshipping narrative, you'll probably like it.
    A lot of these reviews seem to come from Tesla fans who really misunderstand what I took to be the point of this movie. I don't think the movie is trying to portray who should have gotten the most credit or who was the most moral person or intelligent inventor of this era.

    If that was the film's goal, then Tesla would have been the protagonist of the film and the central character.

    It seemed to me that the movie's goal was to tell the story of how these inventors lived and how they were perceived by people within their time period. And how those perceptions impacting their goals to not just invent the best products, but get their products out and accepted within society.

    Edison was perceived by the public as a star long before he ever invented a solid lightbulb for the time. Tesla wasn't a known entity. Westinghouse was successful, but not much of publicly known name to the public as Edison.

    Edison and Westinghouse were the two big figure-heads of the AC and DC battle of the late 19th century. Even though Tesla is really the one who contributes the importance finding to give AC the edge, at the time, virtually no one knew who Tesla was or had good merits for taking his genius seriously. Tesla didn't demonstrate a lot of his ideas which were correct and didn't seem to understand how conmen could manipulate people by making the same kinds of claims as him without a model that actually would work.

    Tesla worked for Edison, Westinghouse and independently over the course of his career. Tesla was probably the most visionary and innovative thinker conceptually among all of the characters in the film. But Tesla was an immigrant, which made it difficult for his ideas to gain traction within a racist and nationalist time for America. Plus Tesla was arrogant and the least practical or compromising in his aspirations, which made it even more difficult for his ideas to manifest themselves within society as he wished they would. Good intentions and correct ideas aren't enough if they don't get implement within one's culture.

    What Tesla really had going for him was that he was really smart and he could figure out solutions that the other inventors couldn't figure out.

    For all of these reasons Tesla couldn't be accurately portrayed in a manner that a lot of reviewers seem to have preferred and expected.

    This movie's goal wasn't to orchestrate some narrative about what should have happened in the past. It's clearly more about showing what did or didn't happen back then and why.

    And I think the story the movie tells is very interesting and provides for a lot of relevant lessons and understandings for people today. Even if it doesn't support Tesla's genius in a way that a lot of people were hoping for. Ultimately, its good to remember that even if one is a genius like Tesla, that doesn't mean that Tesla's didn't have some personal flaws that got in his way of achieving his own goals for the specific type of better future world.

    I also don't really understand the common opinion from other reviewers that Edison was over-romanticized within the movie. Perhaps they could have made him seem more like a scumbag, but I easily was on Westinghouse's side and liked Tesla more as well.

    If anything Westinghouse is the main character who is portrayed with the fewest imperfections. They show a lot of issues in Edison's persona. Not just in his invention, but in his interpersonal, business and family decisions.

    I think one of the things that I liked the most about the movie is that it never shows the two main characters together in the same scene until the memorable scene at the very end.
    helpful•30
    8
    • brianjohnson-20043
    • Sep 8, 2020

    FAQ1

    • If this is a 2017 show, why do we have to wait until October to see it?This is one I cannot wait to see, the story fascinates me.

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 25, 2019 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Russia
      • United Kingdom
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Instagram
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • The Current War
    • Filming locations
      • Cragside House, Rothbury, Northumberland, England, UK(Solitude)
    • Production companies
      • BGI Supplies
      • Bazelevs Production
      • Film Rites
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $30,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $5,979,540
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $2,633,717
      • Oct 27, 2019
    • Gross worldwide
      • $12,217,160
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 42 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

    Related news

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    Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Holland in The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
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