Film Inquiry

TESLA Trailer

Tesla (2020)- source: Neon

The biopic gets a jolt in Tesla, the latest from writer/director Michael Almereyda.

I’m sure you’ve heard of good old Nikola Tesla, one of the major proponents of the alternating current and foe of Thomas Edison. He invented a ton of other stuff too and was a general titan of engineering. Pop culture tends to view him as something of a mad scientist, if only because his ideas heavily influenced our world today (a world he never could’ve imagined). That persona has allowed for a lot of fast and loose depictions of his life, which appears to be the route Tesla is taking as well, shooting for a biopic with panache and humor instead of stuffy reality.

TESLA Trailer
source: Neon

This approach isn’t new for Almereyda, who took some chances with his biopic of Stanley Milgram, Experimenter. Reactions to that movie were mixed, but something tells me getting weird with Tesla will be more palatable to most people.

Plus, people love an unleashed Ethan Hawke, who it looks like will get to take some big swings as the strange inventor. He’ll be covering everything from Tesla’s work, his role in the war of currents, and apparently a romance (or at least someone trying to romance the famous bachelor). Co-starring with Hawke in this bizarre take is Eve HewsonEbon Moss-BachrachJim Gaffigan, and Kyle MacLachlan.

Tesla is directed by Michael Almereyda and stars Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. It will be released in the US on August 21st, 2020. Further release dates are not currently known.

Do you think this will be truly different than other biopics? Let us know in the comments!

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