It's Electrifying. It's Electrifying.
Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 1:20PM 
Jason from MNPP here -- isn't it strange, the stories that suddenly catch fire with the movie-makers and ignite dueling projects that race towards the finish line to beat the other to the eyes of the public? You've got your Volcano and Dante's Peak, you've got Deep Impact and Armageddon, and for those of you who don't see Disaster Movies as the be-all end-all of the cinematic form you've got Capote and Infamous... in which that southern writer was tossed at New York Society like a killer meteorite from outer space.
Today comes new news of another bizarre example - the the 1880s a battle over who would best monetize the invention of electricity was waged between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, and all of sudden, some one-hundred-and-thirty odd years later, it's all Hollywood wants to talk about.
I've been following the momentum of the movie called The Current War semi-regularly over at MNPP because a cast of handsome dudes have been attaching and un-attaching themselves from it for a few months -- as of right now the film will star Nicholas Hoult, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, and just today Spider-man himself Tom Holland has joined the cast. Oh and Katherine Waterston too, because I guess there needs to be a token wife character who frets at the sidelines of all the men's manly business. The Current War will be directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who made Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and it's set to start filming next month.
Meanwhile everybody's favorite Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum is making a film called The Last Days of Night, based on a book by the same title, which tells the story from the point of view of Westinghouse's lawyer, who will be played by Eddie Redmayne. That movie is supposed to start filming in February. Do you think Benedict Cumberbatch and Morten both had their light-bulb moments (as it were) on the set of The Imitation Game, and this is some kind of secret spiteful race between the two of them? That's how I'm making entertainment out of the story for myself anyway.
Reader Comments (8)
Cumberbatch vs. Redmayne in milquetoast rematch.
I guess Redmayne has become the go-to actor for this kind of bland historical biopic.
It sounds interesting to me. I like Cumberbatch as Sherlock.
That's what both of these are focused on? Wow, that's dumb. Focusing on Edison and Tesla is a movie. An at least somewhat depressing movie that it would be hard to not make at least somewhat anti-capitalist, but it'd be a bleeping MOVIE. Edison and Westinghouse? How dull.
Volvagia -- Tesla is def a character in the Cumberbatch movie; that's who Nick Hoult is playing. And I think he's a sizable role (esp since they cast Hoult) but I don't think he's the focus.
Jason: And because Tesla is currently a confirmed character in The Current War, I'd currently assign that one as having more of a chance of being more complete and nuanced, but this still isn't the best focal point.
Who is that a picture of? It drives me crazy you guys never caption your photos.
Looks like Tom Holland.