Ethan Hawke is playing Nikola Tesla in the upcoming movie, simply called Tesla. But who was the famous, eccentric inventor? What was his story, and what was the deal between him and Thomas Edison?

The movie Tesla will be premiering in six weeks, and apart from Hawke, the notable role of Edison is played by Kyle MacLachlan, aka Agent Cooper of Twin Peaks.

Michael Almereyda directed the movie, and the focus is Nikola Tesla's natural curiosity. According to critics, Hawke did a beautiful job portraying famed introvert, and it's more amusing than similar drama The Current War.

Bad habits and love for pigeons

There's no way to say who Tesla was. However, his wise words go beyond science, and they might inspire you to do something you never really thought possible.

After all, what Tesla did was nothing short of impossible. Apart from being a scientist, the son of a Serbian priest was a futurist and a prime example of an open mind.

Tesla's primary goal was to give people electricity, so much that he would work for days and sip tens of cups of coffee.

Sleeping was clearly overrated in his busy mind because he was a man on a mission. He didn't care about money, nor did he want to get married and have kids.

For Nikola Tesla, work was life, and his best friends were pigeons. His beliefs were controversial, yet many people today use them to point out the power of positive thinking.

And while clearly, he was an inventor, he did trust his instincts and never dismissed claims about alien life or the power of the human mind.

Nikola Tesla's words to live by

The invention is the most important product of man's creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.

The futurist and engineer tells you that you have to use your brain, and go beyond where the money takes you.

Nikola Tesla died broke, but you don't have to. However, your primary goal should be to do good and satisfy your hunger for knowledge.

If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.

No, the scientist isn't calling you to hate anyone. It's a simple statement that hate is a powerful emotion, so you must be cautious with it.

The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

There's something strangely appealing and familiar about this quote.

Perhaps, it's because real geniuses aren't quite sane. Or, Tesla was challenging the meaning of what's normal, really? You decide!

I don't care that they stole my idea … I care that they don't have any of their own.

The essence of Tesla was his thirst for knowledge. The inventor didn't care about his work as much as he was hurt by cheating and a sense of ignorance.

In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.

Many thought Nikola Tesla was out of his mind. Yet, here we are. So, believe in yourself, and your dreams!

I myself eschew all stimulants. I also practically abstain from meat.

Nikola Tesla wasn't a vegan, but he was a vegetarian. His love for nature, and all living creatures, not just people, was exceptional. Follow what you think is good for you.

Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.

The upcoming movie Tesla will help us understand not just the scientist, but loners and introverts as well.

All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed — only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle.

You can't run away from your problems. You need to solve them before they come back bigger than ever!

The individual is ephemeral, races and nations come and pass away, but man remains.

We crave diversity, but the biggest gift is that each one of us is different, unique, And we should learn to celebrate our individuality.

We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences.

These words are the perfect description of human nature. It's that driving force in every human that's making life more interesting.

What Tesla movie won't tell you

There are many urban legends about the works and relationships that Tesla movie won't be able to tell you.

The simple fact is that the inventor wasn't very friendly. However, some are suggesting that he did have an ongoing correspondence with Marija Orsic.

She was part of a secret society and a firm believer in aliens. At first, she was close to Nazi Germany, but we'll never know the truth because she disappeared.

The thing that this movie will bring us is the relationship between Tesla and Edison. Two brilliant minds didn't bother to hide their epic feuds.

More importantly, the Tesla movie should bring us hope, inspiration. Perhaps some not so sane scientist is working on making our planet healthy again.