Filmmaker Michael Almereyda and Ethan Hawke go way back. Almereyda directed Hawke in the 2000 version of “Hamlet,” the 2014 version of “Cymbeline” (also a Shakespeare adaptation). Almereyda’s films have been getting a more and more experimental and abstract lately, and he’s been on a bit of a creative tear (“Majorie Prime,” “Experimenter“), and he continues in this vein with “Tesla,” a movie that follows brazen visionary Nikola Tesla as he undergoes a long rivalry with Thomas Edison and reunites him with Ethan Hawke.
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Kyle MacLachlan plays Edison and the Tesla/Edison rivalry would forever determine the future of electricity. The magnanimous Edison was a self-promoter and brand-builder; Tesla was a brooding, introspective loner, completely lost in his work. “Tesla” is told through the eyes of J.P. Morgan’s daughter Anne (Eve Hewson from “The Knick“), a fervent admirer of Tesla’s, who chronicles his rise, fall, and ultimately, his enduring legacy.
“Telsa” made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. The drama also features Jim Gaffigan, Hannah Gross, and Josh Hamilton. Here’s the official synopsis:
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Brilliant, visionary Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition, then faces thornier challenges with his new system for worldwide wireless energy. The film tracks Tesla’s uneasy interactions with his fellow inventor Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan) and his patron George Westinghouse (Jim Gaffigan). Another thread traces Tesla’s sidewinding courtship of financial titan J.P. Morgan (Donnie Keshawarz), whose daughter Anne (Eve Hewson) takes a more than casual interest in the inventor. Anne analyzes and presents the story as it unfolds, offering a modern voice to this scientific period drama which, like its subject, defies convention. Winner, Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
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IFC Films “Telsa” opens in theaters (if such a thing exists by then), and VOD on August 21. Watch the official trailer below, timed to coincide with Nikola Tesla’s 164th Birthday (July 10, 1856).
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