The battle lines — or rather, power lines — are being drawn for The Current War.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Benedict Cumberbatch are in talks to portray George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison in the Weinstein Co.’s period drama about the 19th-century feud over the future of electricity, EW has confirmed. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl helmer Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is in discussions to direct. The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.

Michael Mitnick’s script, which landed on the 2011 Black List of hot undproduced projects, centers on the electrical rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse in the late 1880s. Edison thought power should be delivered via direct current, while Westinghouse favored alternating current.

Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) originally acquired the script to direct it himself, but instead he’ll produce with Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch.

Weinstein will finance The Current War and handle domestic distribution.

In the meantime, Gyllenhaal, Cumberbatch, and Gomez-Rejon each have projects lined up to shoot this fall: Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, Marvel’s Doctor Stange, and Collateral Beauty with Will Smith.