David O. Russell’s “Madden” has started production in Atlanta, and with that, a first look at the two leads in their respective roles. Is this supposed to be a comedy?
Christian Bale will play former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. Nicolas Cage is his co-lead as football icon John Madden. The rest of the ensemble includes John Mulaney, Kathryn Hahn and Sienna Miller.
Cage is also now the third actor whose been attached to portray the football icon, with both Will Ferrell and, more recently, Hugh Jackman dropping out. It’s already a damn-near miracle the film is actually happening — there have been so many delays on this one.
The film will tackle former coach Madden’s exit from the league and subsequent partnership with EA Sports to create the pioneering “Madden NFL” video game franchise. The film will explore the rivalry between Madden and Al Davis, in a race against time to develop the ultimate football video game.
Amazon/MGM is behind “Madden,” which Russell is writing and directing. The original script, written by Cambron Clark, has been part of the Blacklist for a few years now. Russell is said to have “tweaked” the script to his own liking, and I had recently reported that he now had the main screenwriting credit.
Russell is coming off 2022’s “Amsterdam,” the most critically reviled film of his career. He’s constantly delivered critically acclaimed fare over the course of his 30-year career, films such as “Silver Linings Playbook”, “The Fighter”, “Three Kings”, “Flirting with Disaster” and” American Hustle.”
