UPDATE: “Madden” is eyeing an October production start and a 2024 release.
EARLIER: Fresh off “Amsterdam,” David O. Russell was already tapped to direct Sacha Baron Cohen and Keke Palmer in “Super Toys.”
And now Deadline reports that Russell also has “Madden” about NFL legend John Madden for Amazon/MGM, with Will Ferrell in talks to star.
“Madden” will focus on NFL coaching great John Madden’s exit from the league and subsequent partnership with EA Sports to make the pioneering “Madden NFL” video game franchise.
The script for “Madden,” written by Cambron Clark, has been part of the Blacklist for a few years now. Here’s how it was described on that list:
After being forced into retirement by the Oakland Raiders, fiery former NFL head coach John Madden teams up with a mild-mannered Harvard programmer to rewrite his fading legacy by building the world’s first football video game. Based on a true story.
As for Russell: so much for being “cancelled.”
If you remember, Russell had already booked his first post-Amsterdam project late last year. He was going to direct the pilot for a Paramount+ limited series titled “FIFA.” That project might be in the backburner now.
It seems as though there is still some prestige left with Russell’s brand of filmmaking as he’s constantly delivered critically-acclaimed films in his career, such as Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter, Three Kings, Flirting With Disaster and American Hustle.
Late last year, as “Amsterdam” was gearing up for release, a slew of anti-Russell screeds (here, here, here, here) had been published to tarnish his reputation. Should he get “cancelled” for his past misdeeds? I don’t think any artist, no matter how despicable they are, should be prevented from creating art.
Of course, it was inevitable that American critics would respond negatively to “Amsterdam,” no matter how good it turned out, and that’s just what happened. Was “Amsterdam” as bad a movie as reviews entailed it to be? I’ll leave the answer up to you.
