LOS ANGELES, May 23 — Two years after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, historical drama The Current War starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon will get its limited theatrical US release on October 4 — just in time for awards season. The feature film tells the story of the battle of ideas between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.
The Thomas Edison-George Westinhouse biopic has finally gotten its release date, two years after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, will get a limited release in the US on October 4, followed by a wide release the next weekend, according to 101 Studios. This date allows to film to compete in the next spring's award season, making it a probable Oscar contender.
The Current War tells the story of the war of ideas opposing American inventors and industry titans Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) in the 1880s, who both were racing to impose their electrical standards.
The former, a proponent of direct current, was the inventor of the incandescent bulb and the first man to build a power plant, while his rival sided with Nikola Tesla (played here by Nicolas Hoult) to develop alternating current.
Since the TIFF premiere, director Alfonso Gomez Rejon (American Horror Story) altered his film, adding five new scenes and removing ten minutes from the first version. Katherine Waterston, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Holland (who also worked with Cumberbatch on Avengers: Endgame), as well as Matthew Macfadyen round out the cast.
This is not the first time Cumberbatch plays a historical role: the Brit had garnered an Oscar nomination for his turn as mathematician Alan Turing in 2014's Imitation Game. From May 31, fans of the “Sherlock” actor will be able to see him in the Amazon Prime Video series, Good Omens, opposite Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Jon Hamm and Mireille Enos. — AFP-Relaxnews
