"The Current War" is a historical biopic directed by
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (
"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl") from a script by
Michael Mitnick (
"Vinyl",
"The Giver").
The film depicts the cutthroat competition between electricity titans Thomas Edison (
Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (
Michael Shannon) to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world, which was later dubbed "war of the currents". The cast also includes
Nicholas Hoult, Katherine Waterston, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Holland and
Matthew Macfadyen.
"The Current War" premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival but ended up getting shelved because of the
Harvey Weinstein sexual-assault scandal which derailed Weinstein Co. The film was eventually rescued by 101 Studios and scheduled for release.
Gomez-Rejon discovered that the film's executive producer
Martin Scorsese had a "final cut" clause in his contract, and he convinced the legendary filmmaker to
help him finish the film. The director made reshoots and cut ten minutes from the original version. The new version was released in theaters as
"The Current War: Director's Cut" on October 25, 2019.
Find out more about the movie after the jump.