Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne is to play the founder of law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore in a new film about lightbulbs.
The Last Days of Night will tell the story of Thomas Edison's legal battle with his rival George Westinghouse. Accused of infringing Edison's patent for the lightbulb, Westinghouse picked 26-year-old Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, to handle his defence. Told through Cravath's eyes, the film will see him encounter historical figures including Alexander Graham Bell, JP Morgan and Nikola Tesla.
34-year-old Graham Moore, who adapted the screenplay from his own novel and won an Oscar for writing The Imitation Game, told The Wall Street Journal, “Paul was in the midst of unimaginable skulduggery. Edison and Westinghouse had spies in each other’s operations. They were trying to damage each other’s factories. He would have felt himself to be inside a thriller”. He said, “At the end something wonderful is produced [spoiler alert: a lightbulb], and it’s something wonderful that none of them could have done alone”.
However, Cravath the firm has been less than helpful. A partner refused to let Moore read a box of correspondence between Cravath and Westinghouse, claiming that attorney-client privilege held even though both parties died over 50 years ago. “He was very clear with me that under no circumstances could I see these letters”, said Moore. The firm's London office will also not feature, but only because it didn't open until 1973.
RollOnFriday asked Cravath whether they would lay on a free screening for staff, but the joyless philistines failed to respond.
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The Last Days of Night will tell the story of Thomas Edison's legal battle with his rival George Westinghouse. Accused of infringing Edison's patent for the lightbulb, Westinghouse picked 26-year-old Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, to handle his defence. Told through Cravath's eyes, the film will see him encounter historical figures including Alexander Graham Bell, JP Morgan and Nikola Tesla.
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"The Last Days of Night isn't about an associate working his notice?" |
34-year-old Graham Moore, who adapted the screenplay from his own novel and won an Oscar for writing The Imitation Game, told The Wall Street Journal, “Paul was in the midst of unimaginable skulduggery. Edison and Westinghouse had spies in each other’s operations. They were trying to damage each other’s factories. He would have felt himself to be inside a thriller”. He said, “At the end something wonderful is produced [spoiler alert: a lightbulb], and it’s something wonderful that none of them could have done alone”.
However, Cravath the firm has been less than helpful. A partner refused to let Moore read a box of correspondence between Cravath and Westinghouse, claiming that attorney-client privilege held even though both parties died over 50 years ago. “He was very clear with me that under no circumstances could I see these letters”, said Moore. The firm's London office will also not feature, but only because it didn't open until 1973.
RollOnFriday asked Cravath whether they would lay on a free screening for staff, but the joyless philistines failed to respond.