In one of the most interesting stories of the week, there's a John Madden biopic being made and a legendary actor is being tabbed to play the legendary coach. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage is set to star as Madden in a film directed by David O. Russell.
Fresh off of his role in the surprise hit Longlegs, Cage is a hot commodity in Hollywood once again after years of dominating the indie circuit. Casting him as Madden is a stroke of genius. The Hall of Fame commentator and coach was a larger-than-life personality and there might not be an actor who is more larger-than-life than Cage.
Interestingly, this isn't a traditional biopic. According to THR, it's more of a video game movie and will focus largely on the creation of the Madden NFL video game. Raiders fans may be disappointed to learn that it won't focus on his time as a coach of the legendary franchise but it makes sense why they'd want to focus on the video game angle.
Russell is a controversial director and I personally don't like his films but he's been nominated for five Academy Awards and typically gets really great performances from his actors. I wouldn't be surprised if we finally see Cage get some awards love.
“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 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.”
This quote is pretty interesting because it doesn't sound like they'll totally ignore Madden's connection with the Raiders in the film. This is definitely a movie Raider Nation should keep an eye on when it eventually comes out.