Battle of the Bulb: Watch Edison, Tesla’s Electric Fight in ‘The Current War’ Trailer

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla engage in a nerdy and nefarious battle to bring electric light to America in the trailer for The Current War. The film will open in select theaters October 4th before a wider release October 11th.

The Current War stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison and Nicholas Hoult as Tesla, while Michael Shannon plays Tesla’s partner, businessman George Westinghouse. The film follows the contentious battle between Edison and Tesla/Westinghouse as they vie for the rights to light Manhattan — and then the rest of America — with their competing technologies.

The new trailer offers a compelling look at this quintessential corporate clash of ego, intellect and greed as Edison and Tesla repeatedly try to undercut each other (“His current kills people!” Edison proclaims with outrageous gravity at one point). The clip closes with Tesla lining up a game of billiards and telling his opponent what he does in the most blunt terms, “Inventor — I fix problems for idiots.”

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directed The Current War, while Martin Scorsese served as an executive producer. The film also features Tom Holland, Katherine Waterston, Matthew Macfadyen and Tuppence Middleton.