Posted on 08/15/2024 3:44:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Amazon MGM Studios is hoping to score a touchdown with a dramatic look at the sports and video game legend.
After months, if not years of development, David O. Russell’s Madden looks to be nearing the end zone.
Nicolas Cage is set to portray John Madden, the storied football coach and sports commentator, in a drama from Amazon MGM Studios to be directed by Russell, the filmmaker behind Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.
But this is not a biopic of the man in the typical way, nor a sports drama, a genre Russell took on with boxing movie The Fighter. Rather, Madden is in part, according to sources, a video game movie. It’s the origin story of Madden NFL, one of the biggest video game franchises of all time.
The feature hails from Prime Sports Original feature film produced by Todd Black. Also producing are Escape Artists’ Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Jonathan Shukat alongside Russell and Matthew Budman. Escape Artist is currently in prep on a live-action adaptation of Masters of the Universe for Amazon.
Madden was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s, with an enviable winning streak. He parlayed that into a three-decade-long career as a color commentator, becoming part of the American pop culture landscape with his entertaining style. He won 16 Sports Emmy Awards along the way.
In the 1980s, he began conversations with Electronic Arts to create what would become Madden NFL, the game series that launched in 1988 and continues to present day. For many, in fact, the man is more synonymous with the game than broadcasting or coaching.
Russell wrote the script, working off an earlier 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 in a statement. “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.”
Cage’s casting comes as Russell spent months navigating scheduling and star power in order to get the project going. Hugh Jackman was one actor was circling the project on and off last year.
Cage is one of Hollywood’s great gonzo actors who has navigated big studio movies (and their paydays), award-winning dramas (earning two Oscars), schlocky low-budget straight-to-home entertainment, and cult classic horror movies. He can currently be seen in Neon’s critical and box office sensation Longlegs as the title character.
“They should go with Frank Caliendo”
I always enjoyed Madden’s NFL commentary, but his thin-skinned anger about Frank Caliendo’s portrayal of him didn’t speak particularly well of his character. It was weird because Caliendo’s parody wasn’t particularly mean-spirited or anything. If you want to be public figure with all the wealth and trappings that come with celebrity, you need to have a sense of humor when people make fun of you. I remember Newt Gingrich laughing about Chris Farley’s send-up of him and inviting Farley to the Capitol. Ditto Bush 41 with Dana Carvey.
also gonna need some of those “turduckens”
Yup....or at least some bigger fat guy with a grin. Maybe fatten up Howie Long.....Nicolas cage?
I don’t remember John Madden as being emotionless and dull.
Punt
No offense, but I'll take his lifetime of football experience and his assessment of players, past and present, over yours anytime......
But we all have our opinions, don't we?
What? Frank Caliendo was busy?
If this isn’t about the film director John Madden, Nic is going to have to get really fat real fast. What about height and general coloration? How convincing could he be?
Absolute BS!
That Cage dickhead couldn’t do justice to a representation, on screen, of John Madden...
Madden played college ball with some accolades. Decently smart also. Drafted by NFL as a player, got too many injuries and went into coaching.
He had a players view of the game. Just about every player used the term “boom”. That would be a block of tackle which instantly stopped the opponent and usually almost instantly knocked them down. Everyone playing loved doing that to their opponent.
He was an earthy big friendly guy.Terms like “snot bubbler” would let non fb players know about the toughness of the game. Yeah, his style got old...but he was an original...
I don’t remember him being think-skinned about it.
Yep, John Candy came to mind RIP. With lip syncing from Frank Caliendo ya got something there.
Should be at least as good as John Wayne playing Genghis Khan.
It was a thing at one time. Madden used to do a segment on KCBS radio in the Bay Area, and I was listening one day when one of the on-air personalities mentioned something about the Caliendo impression and Madden’s normal jovial on-air personality completely changed and he made some comment along the lines that he guessed that the guy (Caliendo) did what he did to make a living but it was a dishonorable way to treat people.
Charles Barkley isn’t necessarily the most reliable witness but in this case I believe him, as I detected genuine bitterness in that radio interview I heard.
“Charles Barkley Reveals that John Madden Tried to Sue Frank Caliendo Over His Madden Impression”
https://www.cracked.com/article_38076_charles-barkley-reveals-that-john-madden-tried-to-sue-frank-caliendo-over-his-madden-impression.html
Yes! Cage? No way will that be believable. Madden was a loved commentator. There isn’t enough collective talent in the world to make Cage loved! Ugh!
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON STORY. Hey, how about Jack Black as George Washington, Hillary Clinton as Martha Washington, and Donna Brazile as a Washington plantation slave.
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