Electrically-powered period legal drama The Current War is loading up on talented thesping types, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon already in the cast. Now Nicholas Hoult is in talks to join them.
The Current War, set in the late 1880s, follows the real-life public clash between Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Shannon) as to who was going to decide the future of the electricity industry. Edison favoured direct current, while Westinghouse and several other companies preferred to push alternating current. Hoult is close to the role of Nikola Tesla, the famed inventor who arrived in the States in 1884 and worked briefly with Edison, but soon fell out with him. The scientist ended up selling most of his patents to Westinghouse.
Michael Mitnick’s script has Me And Earl And The Dying Girl’s Alfonso Gomez-Rejon on board to direct, and who should be starting to shoot the film in December. Hoult was back as Hank "Beast" McCoy in this year's X-Men: Apocalypse and appeared in Drake Doremus' Equals, which has recently been released digitally here. He has war drama Sand Castle and biopic Rebel In The Rye headed to cinemas next year.