biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film written and directed by
Michael Almereyda
Michael Almereyda (born April 7, 1960) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Early work
Almereyda studied art history at Harvard but dropped out after three years to pursue filmmaking. He acquired a Hollywood agent on ...
. It stars
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...
Eve Hewson
Eve Hewson (born Memphis Eve Sunny Day Iris Hewson; 7 July 1991) is an Irish actress, whose father is the singer Bono. Her first major role was in the 2011 drama film '' This Must Be the Place'', and she made her television debut as Nurse Lucy E ...
Jim Gaffigan
James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...
, and
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in '' Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...
roller skating
Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...
. A narrator explains that Tesla was inspired as a young boy when he was petting his cat and saw static electricity.
Nine years prior, in 1884 New York City, Tesla is working for
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
, who disregards Tesla's suggestions of using
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
, and does not want to pay him for the invention. Their coworker explains that Edison's disapproval was partly because of the death of his wife. When they smash ice cream cones on each other, the narrator interrupts and says that isn't how it happened. She explains how
Google search
Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world.
The ...
es on Tesla show very few photographs and usually the same headshots. She goes into Tesla's childhood and schooling, and also that he tried to start his own company but failed, and ended up having to dig ditches. Edison, on the other hand, has more popularity, twice as many search results, but lives a lavish lifestyle and married and widowed young with his first wife Mary.
While Edison meets Mina, his second wife, in 1885, Tesla pitches his work on his induction motor to investors Brown and Peck. He and his assistant Szigeti impress Professor Anthony, who suggests he break up the invention into several patents. He meets Anthony's daughter Evelyn; and Anne Morgan, the daughter of J.P. Morgan and also the film's narrator.
George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...
, an inventor and businessman, buys Tesla's patents and fund production where the latter would get a royalty for every product installed in a home. He shares a rivalry challenge from Edison who claims that direct current is superior, and that alternating current is dangerous. Edison shows the Westinghouse invention as a
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
tool on
William Kemmler
William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860 – August 6, 1890) was an American peddler, alcoholic, and murderer, who, in 1890, became the first person in the world to be executed by electric chair. He was convicted of murdering Matilda "Tillie" Ziegle ...
, who had killed his wife. Meanwhile, Tesla demonstrates his invention to an audience using two induction sticks that glow.
Szigeti invents a compass apparatus, but Tesla tells him it has already been invented, so Szigeti abandons his pursuits and seeks his fortune in South America. Kemmler's execution by
electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
is botched. Anne gets to know Tesla more. Tesla's invention is used to power's the World's Fair in 1893 in Chicago. Edison meets with Tesla and admits he was wrong about alternating current, and then he offers to partner with Tesla. Anne clarifies that this meeting never happened: Edison neither apologized nor offered to join forces.
Westinghouse tells Tesla that in order to keep his business going, he needs to do a merger, but has to cancel Tesla's contract regarding his horsepower royalties. Tesla tears up his contract.
Sarah Bernhardt, a celebrity actress, records for Edison's gramophone. She meets Tesla at her event, but Edison is envious of Tesla and escorts her away.
Later, Tesla oversees the design of the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power plant. J.P. Morgan asks Anne if she thinks Tesla is interested in romancing her. Anne talks with Tesla about it, but finds he has plans for another invention, but unfortunately he is moving far away to Colorado. In 1899
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
, he sets up his
Tesla coil
A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. It is used to produce high-voltage, low- current, high-frequency alternating-current electricity. Tesla experimented with a number of differen ...
to harness and to transmit the power of the lightning storms.
Tesla meets up with Bernhardt who is touring the area. She shows interest in him, and invites him to attend her performance, but he does not show up. J.P. Morgan invests in his invention, giving him a check, which Tesla accepts.
In 1901, Edison's mining venture fails and he loses four million dollars. Tesla has not shown much progress in his work either, and even though Marconi has used Tesla's patents to transmit wireless signals, Tesla seems to be more interested in receiving and decoding signals he believes are from Mars. He asks J.P. Morgan for more funding, but is declined.
There's a scene of Tesla singing to "
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears. It was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley, and Chris Hughes and produced by Hughes. The song was first released on 22 March 1985 by Phonogram, Mercury ...
", along with montage stills from the film.
Realizing she has no future with Tesla, Anne moves to France to work with an organization helping children. She explains how Tesla outlived his peers but dies alone at 87 years old. She reflects that today's world might be what he had imagined.
Cast
*
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...
Eve Hewson
Eve Hewson (born Memphis Eve Sunny Day Iris Hewson; 7 July 1991) is an Irish actress, whose father is the singer Bono. Her first major role was in the 2011 drama film '' This Must Be the Place'', and she made her television debut as Nurse Lucy E ...
as Anne Morgan. She also acts as the film's contemporary narrator, talking about
Google search
Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world.
The ...
Josh Hamilton
Joshua Holt Hamilton (born May 21, 1981) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from to , most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers teams that won two consecutive Americ ...
as
Robert Underwood Johnson
Robert Underwood Johnson (January 12, 1853 – October 14, 1937) was an American writer, poet, and diplomat.
Biography
Robert Underwood Johnson was born in Centerville, Indiana, on January 12, 1853. His brother Henry Underwood Johnson b ...
, a journalist who befriends Tesla
* Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Anitai Szigeti, Tesla's assistant and friend from Budapest.
* Lucy Walters as Katharine Johnson, wife of Robert Johnson, friend of Tesla
*
John Palladino
John Palladino (March 29, 1920 – December 20, 2014) was a Capitol Records producer and A&R executive. His most notable recordings were with Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, but he also edited records by Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd, and as a ...
as Bourke Cochran
*
Michael Mastro
Michael R. Mastro (born June 1, 1925) is an American real estate developer, who was in business for forty years managing apartments and mid-size office parks in Seattle. He declared bankruptcy in 2009. Mastro and his wife, Linda, a former Bellev ...
as Charles Peck, an attorney/investor.
*
Hannah Gross
Hannah Gross (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Debbie Mitford in the Netflix drama '' Mindhunter''.
Early life
Gross grew up in Toronto. She is the daughter of actors Martha Burns and Paul Gross. She attended N ...
as Mina Edison, Thomas Edison's second wife
*
Peter Greene
Peter Greene (born Peter Green; October 8, 1965) is an American actor. A character actor, he is generally known for portraying villains. He is best known for the roles in the 1994 films ''The Mask'', where he plays the films antagonist, Dorian ...
as Nichols
* Blake Delong as
William Kemmler
William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860 – August 6, 1890) was an American peddler, alcoholic, and murderer, who, in 1890, became the first person in the world to be executed by electric chair. He was convicted of murdering Matilda "Tillie" Ziegle ...
, the first person to be executed by electric shocks
* Karl Geary as Francis Upton, coworker of Edison
*
James Urbaniak
James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...
as Professor Anthony, who reviews Tesla's invention
*
Jim Gaffigan
James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...
as
George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...
, a businessman and inventor who takes an interest in Tesla's work.
*
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in '' Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
as
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
, an inventor and entrepreneur who employs Tesla for six months and later acts as his rival.
Rebecca Dayan
Rebecca Dayan (; born 1984) is a French actress, model, artist, and activist. After training in fine arts, Dayan began her career in fashion and theatre in Paris. She then moved to New York City where she took up screen acting. Following several ...
portrays actress Sarah Bernhardt, Emma O'Connor plays Anthony's daughter Evelyn;
Lois Smith
Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American character actress whose career spans eight decades. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'', and later played supporting roles i ...
portrays The Grande Dame; and Ian Lithgow portrays banker/investor Alfred Brown.
Production
In February 2018, it was announced
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...
had joined the cast of the film, with Michael Almereyda directing from a screenplay he wrote. The script was an updated form of the first feature Almereyda ever wrote, a Tesla biopic originally optioned to Polish director
Jerzy Skolimowski
Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wyk ...
that was never made. Almereyda "reinvented it for the present moment," adding details about Tesla that had been published or discovered since then and including changes based on other influences such as films by director
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist.
Biography
Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
.
Release
''Tesla'' had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Award. Shortly after,
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...
acquired distribution rights to the film and released it in selected theaters and via Premium VOD on August 21, 2020.
Reception
Box office and VOD
''Tesla'' grossed $93,147 in the United States and Canada, and $365,904 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $459,051. It made $42,165 from 108 theaters in its opening weekend. That same weekend the film was the second-most rented on Apple TV, before finishing 10th at Apple TV and ninth on
Spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...
the following weekend.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads, "Appropriately bold and ambitious, ''Tesla'' takes a number of risks that don't always pay off -- but Ethan Hawke's performance makes those flaws easier to forgive." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."