Nic Cage Is Set To Play John Madden In David O. Russell's New Biopic

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.

“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.”

This is a whirlwind of a news item. 

Part of this sounds awesome. A John Madden biopic is a obviously great idea since there are few people more synonymous with the game of football than him. Nic Cage playing him isn't the worst casting either. The voice might be a little bit of a stretch but I can see them getting the looks to match, especially with prosthetics. 

The part that doesn't sound awesome is the focus on the video game part of this. Madden was a legendary coach and commentator, so why make this a video game movie? And David O. Russell being the skipper on this project is another weird stroke. This is typically a guy that makes slightly more serious projects like 'Silver Linings Playbook'. He's also a notorious (alleged) asshole that is hated by a ton actors. You don't get a whole tab on your wiki for  "Abuse of actors and crew" for nothing. In fact, George Clooney called him a "miserable fuck" two days ago. 

All that said, Russell's movies are typically solid, he has experience in the 70s setting (American Hustle) and I will always root for Nic Cage to succeed.