Nicholas Hoult recently expressed his fascination after Elon Musk shared an image of him while discussing the renowned inventor Nikola Tesla. This exchange took place on Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) account, where the Tesla CEO was talking about how his company was named after the famous inventor, who passed away in 1943. However, rather than using a real image of Nikola Tesla, Musk shared a still from the movie The Current War, where Hoult portrays Tesla.
In the post, Musk wrote, “We named @Tesla after Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest engineers ever,” and went on to describe Tesla as a “penniless immigrant” who invented the type of electricity that helped the American generation flourish. The post, shared on December 27, 2024, was part of an ongoing debate among President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters regarding immigrant visas.
Hoult, clearly flattered by the unexpected recognition, responded with a playful comment on social media: “Clearly a very convincing performance I gave here.” Musk’s post brought attention to Hoult’s portrayal of Tesla, which had already been depicted by other actors in the past, including David Bowie in The Prestige and Ethan Hawke in Tesla.
The Current War, the film from which Musk’s post was sourced, also featured Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison and Michael Shannon as George Westinghouse. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and produced by Martin Scorsese, the movie delves into the rivalry between Edison and Tesla, focusing on their competing visions of electricity—Edison’s direct current (DC) versus Tesla’s alternating current (AC)—and the impact it had on the development of electrical power in the United States.
