The story of Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla really is a fascinating one.
Simply put, Edison was in favour of a direct current to power electricity whilst George Westinghouse, a noted engineer and industrialist, preferred an alternating current. Helping Westinghouse was Nikola Tesla, a brilliant Serbian inventor who licensed his inventions to Westinghouse and sparked (heh) what became known in the press of the time as the Current War.
As we know, David Bowie portrayed an elderly Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, however there hasn't been a film made about Tesla's earlier life or the battle between Edison and Westinghouse - until now. It's been reported by Variety that Hoult is in final negotiations to star as Nikola Tesla, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison and Michael Shannon as George Westinghouse, in a film based on their rivalry.
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl director Alfonzo Gomez-Rejon will helm a screenplay from Michael Mitnick, who previously worked on HBO's Vinyl and the laughably bad YA adaptation The Giver.
So, thoughts? The story of Tesla and Edison really deserves to be told and told properly, however getting the director of a weepy teen dramedy and the guy who worked on a HBO series that was cancelled after one series isn't exactly inspiring hope. Moreover, Nicholas Hoult's acting abilities don't suggest that he's going to be able to take on a complex character like Tesla.
Still, it's good to see this story being taken on and maybe the Eddie Redmayne take on the story might be better, but for now, this doesn't look great.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Via Variety / The Wrap
