The Current War Trailer Debut: Benedict Cumberbatch Is Thomas Edison

A little over a century ago, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were locked in a seemingly endless battle. One of them, Edison, had direct current electricity, the backing of J.P. Morgan, and the juice to power Manhattan. The other, Westinghouse, had alternating current, a lot of money, and—eventually—Nikola Tesla. Over the course of many years they took swipes at each other as they raced to light up America. Westinghouse had the better current (AC is now the standard, of course); Edison had a campaign to make everyone believe AC was deadly. (Seriously, he killed an elephant to demonstrate its power.) It got very, very ugly.

It also got very dramatic, which is why the entire saga is coming to the big screen this fall with The Current War. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison (after playing Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, he’s really got this intense inventor thing down), Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, Nicholas Hoult as Tesla, and promises to be just as much of a knock-down-drag-out brawl as the real thing. (Though, considering this movie is coming out November 24, right in the heart of Oscar season, its main fight will be for Academy Awards.) Check out the first trailer for The Current War above.