'Wanted' Director Picks Up Black List Script 'Current War' as Helming Vehicle

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Timur Bekmambetov, director of the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and his Bezelevs production banner have acquired The Current War, a 2011 Black List script written by playwright Michael Mitnick.

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The project is intended to be a directing vehicle for Bekmambetov.

The script is based on the true story of the public battle fought between pioneers Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to develop electricity and bring it to the masses while also making sure their system is the one that is adopted.

Bazelevs' president of development Michele Wolkoff will oversee the project, which was brought in to the company by Bazelevs creative exec Alan Khamoui. The company will finance the development through its independent fund.

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Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch will executive produce through Zaillian's Film Rites.

Mitnick, repped by WME and Fourth Floor Productions, wrote the play Sex Lives of Our Parents, and his next work, Ed, Downloaded, will premiere in 2013 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He is working on the libretto for the Broadway adaptation of comedy classic Animal House.

Bekmambetov is repped by WME.