Interview: 'Epistemic'- a film based on the life of Nikola Tesla

‘Epistemic’ is a short film currently in production, which is influenced by the life of the physicist and inventor, Nikola Tesla. To quickly sum up just how brilliant Nikola Tesla was (and why a film based on his life is such a great idea) it is important to remind ourselves of the many things we have to thank him for. These include: alternating current, radio, radar, x-rays, remote controls, lasers and many others!  The film  is set in the present day and focuses on a scientist’s attempts to turn the hypothetical possibility of perpetual motion into a reality, whilst being thwarted by her arrogant colleague, a character based on Thomas Edison. I interviewed the writers, Lewis Hancock and Sean Stoakes, and the Director of Photography, Jake French, to find out more about the project and to see how science has influenced art.

What inspired you to adapt the life of Nikola Tesla?

LH:  Sean originally came to me with the idea of doing a story based on the life of Tesla.

SS: Jake and I, both liked Nikola Tesla, and we thought his life would be an interesting foundation for a film. Originally we wanted to focus on his love for a pigeon and we kind of just wanted to do a more quirky romance film about a man who loves a pigeon. Then we came to realise that his personality and work had much more depth than this particular aspect we were focusing on. The concept of sensory overload, which he was noted to suffer from, really intrigued us from a visual and general filmmaking standpoint.

JF:  I think Tesla’s character is one deserving of more attention and exposure than actually given. He has often been overshadowed by the fame and success of Edison, so we feel that his genius deserves any publicity we may provide through this film.

Where does the title come from?

SS: Well the definition of the word is that it is relating to knowledge or its validation.

LH: So the film is based on the epistemic impossibility of the perpetual motion machine. Due to our current knowledge, it is impossible.

Was there any specific reasoning behind casting a woman in the Tesla role?

SS: There were several reasons...

LH. Yeah, there were really. It dawned on us that what we were playing with in terms of the themes of the film and the character, worked better with a woman in the role. Also, there just seems to be too many male leads in films and in combination with it fitting what we wanted to say and how we wanted to say it, it just worked better with a woman in that role.

SS: Film shares the same problems as the scientific world, in that it can be a bit of a lad’s game. It just seemed much more interesting and it had a great response with actresses coming to audition, who wanted to explore this interesting character. The point of the character is that it is the essence of Tesla. It could be played by a man or a woman. And I think this is important as we are representing a scientist. The sex of the character really isn’t important.

JF: Tesla was an asexual celibate his entire life, so male or female isn’t a defining characteristic.

What intrigued you about the rivalry between Tesla and Edison?

LH: He is the natural antagonist to Tesla’s story because of the real life events that happened, including Edison kind of betraying him and cheating him out of money.

SS: The element of scientific rivalry was interesting as well. The ruthless business side of science is not always what you imagine, but I guess it is like any other work. It really became quite integral to the film.

JF: A lot of info surrounding Tesla and Edison tends to focus on them being rivals in many aspects; however, it was often purely work related. Tesla actually had a lot of respect for Edison in terms of his work, but the history books were written to highlight the, let’s say, “screwing over” of Tesla done by Edison, which was committed seemingly out of spite.

Does the film show examples of their research?

SS: Not really...

(laughter)

LH: We provide symbolic hints to their work like light bulbs and electricity in the visual imagery. Obviously you cannot mention Tesla without thinking about lightning rods and the Tesla coil, which will be referenced.

SS: It has a modern setting and is a re-telling of their lives. Obviously we can’t recreate the invention of AC current in a world where it already exists. So the main focus is perpetual motion, which does not exist, but was something that Tesla worked on.

JF:  Our intention is not having the central theme of the film being science and equations, but on Tesla as a character. Anything scientific related will be portrayed through visuals and lighting, with consistent recurring themes, such as electricity.

As the film is set in modern times, which elements of Tesla’s biography were you able to portray in this new setting and what had to be removed?

LH: With Tesla, we focus more on the character’s mental condition and it was more towards the end of his life where it all started to take its toll. So the sensory overload he was suffering, his fixations, we could bring all that out in the modern character.

SS: We also had to cut out Tesla’s background. Not only is he now a woman, he is also no longer a Croat working in America. His brother died but here there is no reference to the character’s childhood.

LH: Really we have created a character that, rather than sharing his history, shares the same aptitudes and mental condition.

Are there any difficulties representing science through an artistic medium?

LH: Yeah...

SS: Because we are not scientists by any stretch of the imagination.

LH: We are being supported by scientists as we develop the film and we have a credited scientific advisor. But it’s strange choosing how you portray something, as not everyone in the audience will have a scientific background and won’t know what each specific machine does.

SS: As an artist creating something in this visual format we have ended up putting a lot of weird shit in it (laughter). While we are careful with portraying the scientific elements, it is a film and it is fantastical in places.

JF: We’re using our creative freedom as much as possible. As we are steering away from accurate scientific representations, we’re free to represent them any way we like, giving us great advantages in the uses of set design, lighting experimentation and (hopefully) most notably in the cinematography.

LH: In terms of portraying science, as long as we can get the atmosphere and the look right, the audience should believe in the film and most especially, the characters. And the film really does focus on the characters as scientists, rather than the science itself.

SS: Hopefully the scientists in the audience will appreciate that this is a story told in an entertaining and lively fashion and if you’re like us and know almost nothing, you can assume that we are geniuses!

Thank you gentlemen and I wish you the best of luck with the production.

The film will be released in May. You can get more information about the film on Twitter and Facebook: follow @Epistemic_Film  and https://www.facebook.com/epistemicshortfilm