Before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, industry titans and American entrepreneurs George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison engaged in a heated battle over alternating and direct current during the late 1880s in what would become the infamous war of currents.
A fascinating, historic tale, The Weinstein Company are out to engineer a feature film based on Westinghouse and Edison’s feud, one which occupied headlines for years prior to the introduction of a sustainable electricity system in the United States. It’s called The Current War and is, according to Deadline, on the verge of casting Michael Shannon to star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame. Prior to today’s announcement, it was understood that Jake Gyllenhaal had come attached to the part of George Westinghouse, with Cumberbatch on board to play Edison.
Deadline’s report goes on to reveal that TWC is focusing all energy on its casting spree for The Current War as it looks to jump-start production in December, at which time Me and Earl and the Dying Girl director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will be pitting the two industry titans against one another from behind the lens. As is so often the case in Hollywood, Gomez-Rejon’s factual drama is one of two features in the works that chronicles the war of currents; The Last Days of Night, an adaptation of Graham Moore’s own novel, is also simmering on the fringes of development with both Morten Tyldum and Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne on board.
Michael Shannon, meanwhile, is coming off a scenery-chewing turn in Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals – look for that one to bow on October 14 – and will soon light up the big screen in every sense of the word when The Current War bows some time next year.