Famed thespian Nicolas Cage will reportedly play John Madden in David O. Russell’s Madden, a film exploring the origin story of the popular Madden NFL video games. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film will not strictly be a biopic, but rather focus on the video game series, and how it defined sports games in the 1980s.
As THR notes, John Madden was a prolific football coach and sports commentator, but for modern audiences, one of his biggest legacies is his video game partnership with Electronic Arts. To this day, new Madden NFL games are produced – and in fact, the most recent one is set to launch later this week. It’s likely the announcement of Nic Cage’s casting in the film was aligned with this release, although it’s worth noting Madden has been in development for some time.
Russell has developed the script alongside Cambron Clark, with production duties handled by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Jonathan Shukat, Russell Budman, and Matthew Budman. The film will arrive via Amazon’s Prime Sports Original banner.
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In a press release provided to THR, Russell expressed great excitement about the upcoming film, and Nic Cage’s official onboarding. “Nicolas Cage, one of our greatest and most original actors, will portray the best of the American spirit of originality, fun, and determination in which anything is possible as beloved national legend John Madden,” Russell said.
“Together with the ferocious style, focus, and inspired individualism of Al Davis, owner of the underdog Oakland Raiders, the feature will be about the joy, humanity and genius that was John Madden in a wildly inventive, cool world of the 1970s.”
It’s fair to say Cage has been having a moment lately, with multiple recent films garnering him renewed attention. Since the release of the meta-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage has featured in increasingly higher-profile, mostly arthouse films, with recent hit Longlegs garnering him plenty of praise. That’s not to mention similarly praised appearances in The Surfer, Arcadian, and Dream Scenario. We’ll have to wait to see what Cage does with Madden, as it enters production.
