Ready to throw on “Madden?”
David O. Russell’s film, which stars Nicolas Cage as the famous coach, arrives on Prime Video on Nov. 18, which means there’s more than a fighting chance that you’ll be watching it with your family after football ends on Thanksgiving Day. The film charts Madden’s life as he goes from virtuosic coach to the face of a multimillion-dollar video game empire. And you can watch the brand-new trailer below.
In “Madden” frequent Russell collaborator Christian Bale plays Al Davis, described as “best friend and true original” as the film charts their relationship “from a Super Bowl-winning partnership with the Raiders to becoming football’s most recognizable voice to building the worldwide ‘Madden NFL’ video game,” according to the official synopsis.
Madden only recently passed away, in 2021, at the age of 85. He had won the Los Angeles Raiders a Super Bowl, along with seven division titles; won 16 Sports Emmy Awards for his sports commentary on every major network; oversaw the bestselling American football video game in history; and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not too shabby.
Starring alongside Cage and Bale are Kathryn Hahn, Sienna Miller, John Mulaney and Shane Gillis.
Russell also co-wrote the script with Cambron Clark and produced “Madden” with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Jonathan Shukat, Matthew Budman and Colin Wilson. Executive producers are David Bloomfield, Constance Schwartz-Morini and Michael Strahan.
Cage is coming off his first-ever television series, “Spider Noir,” also for Prime Video, and several acclaimed performances in recent years, including in A24’s oddball comedy “Dream Scenario,” NEON’s horror hit “Longlegs” and as a version of himself in Lionsgate’s wacky “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” He will return to the Spider-Verse in next year’s animated “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” from Sony Pictures Animation.
Russell’s last film was 2022’s star-studded and strangely inert “Amsterdam,” which starred Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro and Taylor Swift (among many, many others).
“Madden” arrives in select theaters on November 11 and on Prime Video on November 18.
