YouTube / Prime Video
Here’s something new: Nicolas Cage in a zany, wig-and-prosthetic-heavy performance as a larger-than-life figure. Okay, maybe not so new after all, but hey, it is his first time playing John Madden. The trailer for David O. Russell’s biopic, aptly titled Madden, offers a peek at the film that arrives in November.
Christian Bale, in a decidedly more understated turn than Cage’s Madden, plays Raiders owner Al Davis, who Madden partnered with to win the Super Bowl in 1977. The trailer shows Madden grappling with health problems that force his coaching retirement, setting up his broadcasting career, followed by the chapter that younger generations know Madden (or at least his name) for best.
Enter comedian John Mulaney as EA founder Trip Hawkins. “This is it! This is the future!” Mulaney declares, trying on his best sleazy startup founder voice, as he pitches video games to the coach. The film shows his feedback shaping the first Madden NFL, as the coach rejects Hawkins’s pitch for a 7-on-7 game. “You only have seven men on a team, and I’m out!” Cage’s overstated Madden declares.
Also in the cast are Kathryn Hahn as Madden’s wife, Virginia, and Sienna Miller as Davis’s wife, Carol. Madden opens in theaters on November 11, before heading to Prime Video on November 18. You can watch the trailer below.
