Trivia / The Current War

• Dueling Works: Was released less than three months before Tesla. Though this movie doesn't center much at all on Nikola Tesla, both films feature many of the same historical figures and show some of the same events.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Fake American: Brit Benedict Cumberbatch as the Ohio-born Edison.
  • Brit Nicholas Hoult as the Serbian Tesla.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: This was one of two films meant to be released in 2017 by the Weinstein Company that ended up here instead, thanks to the Harvey Weinstein controversy and the company's resulting bankruptcy (the other being the horror movie Polaroid). The film was eventually released in 2019.
• Troubled Production: The film suffered this as it became a victim of the collapse of The Weinstein Company. For a full explanation:
  • During pre-production, a range of names was attached to the project at different times. Timur Bekmambetov and Ben Stiller were both considered as directors (with the former still having a producer credit), and Jake Gyllenhaal was considered for the role of Westinghouse. In the end, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon took to the directors chair, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as Edison and Westinghouse respectively. This smooth pre-production led straight into a messy post-production.
  • The film was acquired by The Weinstein Company, who planned to make it their big prestige film of that year after a string of previous attempts had flopped. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, but to a middling response that risked ending its award campaign out the gate. Gomez-Rejon, who was in attendance at the screening, took notes on how to improve the film, only to discover that Harvey Weinstein had taken the film away from him and planned to create his own edit for the wide release. However, this wouldn't come to pass, as...
  • The Weinstein sexual abuse scandal broke while this was happening, and caused the studio to collapse. The film found itself in limbo until it was acquired by Lantern Entertainment, a company created to house The Weinstein Company's former assets. The new owners planned to complete and release the Weinstein re-edit of the film, but a clause in executive producer Martin Scorsese's contract meant he had the final say over the release of the film, and he refused to allow its release unless Alfonso Gomez-Rejon was given his creative control back.
  • Alfonso Gomez-Rejon went back and made his edit of the film, which included a redone musical score and new scenes, all of which were shot in a day inside a single farmhouse, with each room serving as a different set. The film eventually found its wide release in October 2019, almost two years after its original planned release date, again to middling reviews.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Timur Bekmambetov and Ben Stiller were among the directors considered for the movie (with Bekmambetov serving as a Producer on the final picture).
  • Jake Gyllenhaal was in talks to play George Westinghouse, but dropped out and was replaced by Michael Shannon.
  • The cut screened at the Toronto Film Festival had a score composed by Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka. It was since replaced with a new score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans.

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