Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison: The British actor portrays the character forthcoming drama The Current War.
Courtesy of The Weinstein Company, we have our very first look at Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison in the upcoming drama The Current War, which is currently shooting in London and surrounding areas.
Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Dr. Strange) stars as Thomas Edison alongside Michael Shannon’s (Waco, Nocturnal Animals) George Westinghouse. Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Inherent Vice), Tom Holland (Captain America: Civil War, the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming), Matthew Macfadyen (‘Ripper Street’, Anna Karenina) and Tuppence Middleton (‘War & Peace’, The Imitation Game) also star with Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Apocalypse, Mad Max: Fury Road) set to play Nikola Tesla.
Written by Michael Mitnick (The Giver), the film will be directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), with Basil Iwanyk (Wind River, Hotel Mumbai), Timur Bekmanbetov, and Harvey Weinstein producing, and Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland executive producing.
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.
TWC Co-Chairman, Harvey Weinstein commented: “Edison and Westinghouse’s rivalry is the ultimate tale of competition driving ingenuity. 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.”
See Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison in the first look image from the film above. The Current War will open in cinemas at a date to be confirmed.
