Nicolas Cage is playing John Madden in a movie that is supposed to be half biopic, half about the development of the Madden video game.
The storied coach and broadcaster has had plenty of movies in the Hollywood chute about him in development, but it looks like one is in the Red Zone and about to score. Amazon MGM Studios is teaming with David O. Russell, the filmmaker behind American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook to direct the feature.
According to sources, the movie is not your typical biopic, or even your typical sports movie. It’s a video game movie; the origin story of Madden NFL, one of the biggest video games in the history of mankind.
The feature comes from Prime Sports Originals and produced by Todd Black. Other producers include Escape Artists’ Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, and Jonathan Shukat alongside Russell and Matthew Budman. Funnily enough, Escape Artists is also working on Masters of the Universe for Amazon MGM Studios, which just announced Camila Mendes is playing Teela, today.
John Madden was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in the ’70s and had one of the most storied runs in the history of the NFL, winning a Super Bowl, and parlaying that into a broadcasting career. He won 16 Sports Emmy Awards for his job broadcasting over three-decades.
His journey into video games started in the ’80s with Electronic Arts and making Madden NFL. It has a new release every year and is one of the highest-grossing properties in all of pop culture.
Here’s what Russell had to say in a statement.
“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. 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.”
There’s no release date for the film at this time.
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