Tyldum's film, which finds him reuniting with his Imitation Game writer Graham Moore (who won an Oscar for the film, while Tyldum was nominated) is a tale of clashing industrial titans. In this case, that would be Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, who went head to head in a nasty battle over alternating and direct current, known as the “War of Currents.” Both men knew there was room for just one American electricity system, and Edison set out to ruin Westinghouse in a campaign that saw the inventor stage publicity events where dogs, horses and even an elephant were killed using Westinghouse’s alternating current. The two men played out their battle on the front pages of newspapers and in the Supreme Court, which included a struggle over who would power the country's first electric chair.
Redmayne will play Paul Cravath, a famed lawyer who represented several big inventors, and made his career working on behalf of Edison. Tyldum, who is finishing sci-fi drama Passengers, is looking to start work on the film in January in the UK, with an autumn awards time release pencilled in, though a distributor is yet to hop on board. Given the Oscar talent involved, we doubt that will take long.
Fantastic Beasts, which Redmayne promoted at this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, will be out in the UK on November 18.