I just had a lightning-bolt realization as I was looking through these photos of Benedict Cumberbatch at the TIFF premiere of The Current War: oh, right, we’ve been obsessed over this dude who absolutely looks like a posh British banker. Benedict was never a sex symbol. He was never a heartthrob. It was his greatest acting trick ever to convince us that he was sexy. He’s just a normal-looking posh guy. Benedict didn’t even bring his loyal and faithful wife to Toronto – Sophie probably has her hands full taking care of babies Kit and Hal, which says to me that Sophie might not be riding with Batch for this promotional tour/Oscar campaign. Benedict ended up posing awkwardly with his costar Katherina Waterson (who looks a bit like Sophie). I’m also including a photo of Michael Shannon at the TIFF premiere – yes, Shannon wore a jean jacket to the premiere, because why not? He’s amazing.

As for The Current War, TIFF critics aren’t really divided on it, so I won’t call the reviews “mixed.” Most critics think it’s a solid, albeit boring, historical movie. The filmaker is trying to make the electricity war seem sexy and dramatic while avoiding making the film all about science. THR’s review points out that “the filmmakers were averse to the idea of making a fusty period drama” but for all of the filmmaking tricks, “The Current War is an uninvolving bore, making it unlikely to measure up as the kind of Oscar-baity prestige entry the Weinstein Company obviously had in mind.” Ouch. That being said, THR also published this piece about The Current War’s Oscar chances:

The film, which was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) and which The Weinstein Co. will release on Nov. 24, is a bit of a Rorschach test. On the one hand, it can be seen as self-serious, a dull history lesson, a by-the-numbers historical period piece that is almost comically designed to appeal to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (These criticisms are reflected in some of the early reviews of the film.) On the other hand, so, too, to a degree, were The King’s Speech, The Imitation Game and any number of other previous Weinstein Co. — and, before that, Miramax — releases that the Academy did indeed ultimately embrace.

It’s true that, demographically, over the past few years, the Academy has begun to look very different than the Academy of, say, a decade ago, and the Academy also has recently embraced some films that the Academy of yesteryear probably would not have (e.g. Arrival, Mad Max: Fury Road, etc.). But that does not mean that the people who responded to more traditional films no longer have a voice — just that theirs is not the only one that gets heard.

What must be said of The Current War is that it has a certain prestige (its Oscar-nominated stars Benedict Cumberbatch, as Edison, and Michael Shannon, as Westinghouse, are no slouches), style (it does something interesting with its production design and visual effects that I can’t quite pinpoint) and romanticism (I heard more than a few “Ooohs” and “Ahhhs” as people learned certain things, like the way we came to have General Electric, etc., and the film wisely ends by bringing everything back to the movies).

I’m not saying that The Current War is going to dominate the rest of the season — just that people shouldn’t write it off because of a mixed critical response. The Weinsteins don’t sit out Oscar seasons; they make the most of them. And even if The Current War wouldn’t necessarily make it to the Oscars with any other distributor, it will be their pet project for the next five or six months — in addition to the August release Wind River, which attracted favorable reviews, but seems to have very little enduring buzz — and you can bet The Weinstein Co., even while not as flush as it’s been in the past, will take it The Current War as far as it can go.

[From THR]

I agree – don’t ever count out Harvey Weinstein when it comes to pushing a period drama on Oscar voters, whether they want it or not. Plus, the Academy loves nothing more than to nominate white (mostly British) actors for historical dramas, so I think that even if the film ends up not making a huge impact, Harvey will push for Benedict, Michael Shannon and Nicholas Hoult to get some nominations. Of course, Harvey is also going to need Bendy to get in gear. Quick, someone get Sophie ten Erdem dresses!

What else? Benedict has signed on to the film Gypsy Boy, an adaptation of Mikey Walsh’s memoir. Bendy will play “a demanding father and a member of the last generation of the Romany Gypsy people, known for their ability to fight. Boxing is a religion to the Walsh clan, so much so that when Mikey is born, he is given a pair of golden gloves on a chain to wear around his neck. The pressure for Mikey to become a boxer splits the family.” That… does not sound like the kind of role in which Benedict should be cast.

Photos courtesy of WENN.