10 Jul 12

Harry Potter Director May Make Movie on Tesla

Hollywood is honouring Nikola Tesla - one of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century - with two movies, one of which may be directed by Mike Newell of Harry Potter fame.

The life and inventions of Nikola Tesla, one of the great scientific minds of all time, continue to intrigue filmmakers.

This autumn, 156 years since Tesla's birth, is the start date for two new Hollywood projects about the great inventor – Tesla Ruler of the World, and Fragments from Olympus.

Tesla' biography

He was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Lika, now Croatia and then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and his mother Djuka Mandic was an inventor of household appliances.

Tesla studied at the Realschule in Karlstadt, the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria, and the University of Prague. He started his career as an electrical engineer with a telephone company in Budapest in 1881. Two years later, he joined Continental Edison Company in Paris and soon after moved to New York where he stayed till the rest of his life.

Tesla, who is best known for developing the modern alternating current electrical supply system, introduced us to the fundamentals of robotry, computers, missile science and was the pioneer of space-age technologies, and nuclear fusion.

Tesla Ruler of the World will tell the story of the famous inventor and tie it to the present.

Serbian Vladimir Rajcic co-wrote the story and his company V.P.R. Studios Production is one of the producers.

Rajcic’s production team has made contact with director Mike Newell on his engagement in the project. Newell's hit movies include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Christian Bale is looking most likely to land the lead role, while Thomas Edison should be portrayed by Nicholas Cage.

Also to appear in the film are Rade Serbedzija and Lolita Davidovic.

Meanwhile, another movie, Fragments from Olympus, is being shot in New York.

The screenplay, written by Joseph Sikorski and Michael Calomino, is based on FBI documents which have recently become available.

The movie deals with the mysteries of Tesla’s life and FBI attempts to conduct an investigation into his research and inventions after the scientist’s death, so that they can get their hands on Tesla’s super weapon, a “death ray”.

Howard J Smith, who lensed some of the Harry Potter and Matrix films, is on board as cinematographer.