Quick, name an actor who would be perfect to play legendary NFL head coach and video game icon John Madden? Doubtful that Nicolas Cage was the first person you thought of, but Deadline reports that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Cage will star in Madden, David O. Russell’s film about John Madden that’s set up at Amazon MGM Studios.
Cage will play NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden, who went from winning Super Bowls to becoming the most popular broadcaster ever and face of the biggest sports video game franchise of all-time.
Last year, Will Ferrell had reportedly been circling the Madden role, but that never panned out. Russell wrote the script following an early version by Cambron Clark.
“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,” said Russell. “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 going to be very interesting to see how Cage embodies Madden, a larger-than-life personality whether on the sidelines or the commentator booth, where he and Pat Summerall made an incredible broadcast team. Cage is currently seen terrifying audiences in Longlegs, and recently starred in another horror film, Arcadian. Coming up, he’ll reprise his Into the Spider-Verse role in Amazon’s Spider-Noir series.
