J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Developing a Thomas Edison Biopic Thanks to the Inventions of Thomas Edison

J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company has selected one of their next projects: a biopic about Thomas Edison, whose brilliant inventions make it possible for Bad Robot to make a movie about the genius inventor, thus completing the cinematic circle of life. Edison, also very awesomely known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park,” is credited as one of the founding fathers of cinema.

According to The Wrap, Abrams’ production company has begun developing an Edison biopic, which will portray the inventor as a “rugged eccentric genius,” as all men hope to be portrayed someday. Edison was the inventor of the motion picture camera, the long-lasting lightbulb and the phonograph, meaning he could make his own movies and their soundtracks if he damn well pleased. The inventor also had his own film studio, which produced The Great Train Robbery, an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in 1910 and the first Frankenstein film, also released that year.

Edison had over 1,000 U.S. patents, and went on to found the Motion Pictures Parents Company, which united nine major film studios. His legacy is unquestionably great, and his life provides a rich source of material for a biopic. Nothing else is yet known about Bad Robot’s plans, but the very idea of an Edison biopic brings to mind films like Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, or the portrayal of Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. There’s many ways they can go with this, but the description of “rugged eccentric genius” is a good start, and conjures images of Edison in flannel, drinking a whiskey and cursing at his work in a log cabin. Why not.