The Current War (2018) on Netflix
Thomas Edison plans to light American neighborhoods with direct current. Snubbed by him at dinner, George Westinghouse sets out to prove alternating current is the better option.
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- Netflix2.4/5
- IMDb6.5/1033,642 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes32%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1880 Thomas Edison shows the public his electric lightbulb. He intends to run power to American homes and streets through direct current, which he argues costs less and burns cleaner than gaslight, though it carries only a short way and demands costly wiring. George Westinghouse, an inventor and businessman, invites Edison to dinner to learn more and is rebuffed. Westinghouse then sets out to show that alternating current is the better system, since it travels much farther at far lower cost, and he demonstrates it at Great Barrington. The two men compete for cities across the country. Nikola Tesla comes to the United States and joins Edison's team, but leaves when Edison will not reconsider his ideas and treats a financial promise as a joke. Edison guards his patents closely and sues Westinghouse.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Current War (2018)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After the sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein surfaced, work on The Current War ceased and The Weinstein Company sold off the rights; director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon had already begun trimming the runtime following the film's rough Toronto reception.
- A clause in executive producer Martin Scorsese's contract, requiring him to approve all final cuts, let director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon raise $1 million to complete post-production and shoot one extra day in England with Benedict Cumberbatch, Tuppence Middleton and Nicholas Hoult.
- Michael Mitnick's screenplay for The Current War took ten years and sixty drafts, starting life as a musical before becoming a film about the real AC/DC war of the currents between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.
- In September 2015 Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal were in talks to play Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, and Sacha Baron Cohen was also briefly linked to the role of Edison.
- The Current War's original score, by Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann, was written for the 2017 Toronto cut but replaced entirely in 2019 by a new score from Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans for the director's cut.
