Actor Benedict Cumberbatch Plays Thomas Edison in 'The Current War'

 

The Weinstein Company planned to release its new film The Current War in the United States this week. But the opening has been delayed until next year.

Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein heads the company, and he is accused of sexually harassing¹ and assaulting several women in Hollywood.

The film stars Oscar nominee² Benedict Cumberbatch. He plays light bulb inventor Thomas Edison who clashes with industrialist³ George Westinghouse in the early 20th century.

Edison prefers direct electrical current while Westinghouse, played by Michael Shannon, wants to use the more dangerous alternating current.

Originally, the two men wanted to work together, but Edison received a lot of investment money from the world’s richest man, J.P. Morgan, and decided⁴ to work alone. Westinghouse and Edison became enemies, fighting over the future of electricity.

Benedict Cumberbatch says that he played the role of Edison because it was a great challenge.

“That’s kind of an exciting chapter of history no matter who you’re playing in it and I just thought it’s a challenge to play such a titanic⁵ figure in American culture and I like a challenge.”

Michael Shannon says he tried to play Westinghouse as a complex character and not let him become a great egoist.

“For every success they had, they had a failure and it wasn’t always easy.”

In addition to Edison and Westinghouse, the film features the life of Nicola Tesla, a former assistant to Edison who goes on to work for Westinghouse. Actor Nicolas Hoult plays Tesla.

Hoult says that Tesla believed that everyone had a right to use electrical power and it would change the world dramatically. As a character, he adds, Tesla is interesting to play because he was often poor, but was always well dressed.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has received some criticism for his use of special effects and odd camera angles. He says he wanted the audience to understand the importance of electricity and the way it would change the world.

He explains he had to tell a long story in a short time and he hopes it “captures the feeling of the time.”

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

disgrace - v. to cause (someone or something) to lose or become unworthy of respect or approval

alternate - adj. occurring in or forming a repeated series

challenge - v. to be difficult enough to be interesting to someone

titanic - adj. very great in size, force, or power

egoist - n. a person who believes he is better or more important than other people

odd - adj. strange or unusual; different from what is normal or expected

1 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 industrialist   

n.工业家，实业家

参考例句：

• The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。
• Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家，可他对生活感到不满意。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。