Famous actor Nicolas Cage will reportedly play John Madden in David O. Russell’s Drive crazya film about the creation of the popular Madden NFL Video games. Pro The Hollywood ReporterThe film will not be a pure biopic, but will rather focus on the video game series and its significance for sports games in the 1980s.
As THR John Madden was a successful football coach and sports commentator, but for modern audiences, one of his greatest legacies is his video game partnership with Electronic Arts. To this day Madden NFL Games are being produced – and in fact, the latest one is due to launch this week. It is likely that the announcement of Nic Cage’s casting in the film is related to this release, although it is worth noting Drive crazy has been in development for some time.
Russell co-developed the screenplay with Cambron Clark, and Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Jonathan Shukat, Russell Budman and Matthew Budman will produce. The film will be released on Amazon’s Prime Sports Original banner.
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In a press release to THRRussell was very excited about the upcoming film and Nic Cage’s official involvement. “Nicolas Cage, one of our greatest and most original actors, will portray the beloved national legend John Madden, embodying the American spirit of originality, fun and determination that anything is possible at its best,” said Russell.
“Along with the wild style, determination and inspired individualism of Al Davis, owner of the underdog Oakland Raiders, the film is about the joy, humanity and genius that John Madden represented in an incredibly inventive, cool world of the 1970s.”
It’s fair to say that Cage has been having a moment of his own lately, as several recent films have brought him renewed attention. Since the release of the meta-comedy The unbearable burden of enormous talentCage has appeared in increasingly well-known, mostly arthouse films, including the recent hit Long-legged and received a lot of praise for it. Not to mention the similarly praised performances in The Surfer, Arcadian, And Dream scenarioWe have to wait and see what Cage does with it Drive crazyas soon as production begins.
