David O. Russell Is Making a Movie about John Madden. Wait, What?

David O. Russell is the director who everyone wants to work with even though he’s an a-hole who yelled at Lily Tomlin, got into a fist fight with George Clooney, and Amy Adams had to be protected from him by Christian Bale (not to mention the personal inappropriate behavior allegations against him). Some actors — including Christian Bale on several occasions — are apparently willing to put up with Russell because sometimes they win Oscars, even though he hasn’t had a hit since Silver Linings Playbook (and he was also behind the box-office disaster Amsterdam just three years ago).

The guy behind The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees, and Spanking the Monkey is making a movie about John Madden. Yeah, the football guy. Specifically, it’s about how the coach of the Oakland Raiders is fired and teams up with a Harvard programmer to create the first football video game, Madden, which remains the gold standard in sports video games. The game essentially launched Madden’s broadcasting career, and now he is considered one of the most legendary announcers in sports history, perhaps only behind Howard Cosell.

It feels like an odd match for Russell, but he’s once again amassed a stacked cast, including Nicolas Cage, who will play John Madden in the film. Christian Bale reteams with Russell to play the coach of the Raiders, Al Davis, and John Mulaney will play Trip Hawkins, the Harvard programmer and the founder of EA games. Kathryn Hahn plays John Madden’s wife, Virginia, and Sienna Miller rounds out the cast as Carol, Al Davis’ wife.

That’s a hell of a cast. Filming is expected to begin in May 2025, and Russell will be working from his own script, which builds upon an earlier version by Cambron Clark. No release date for the film, from Amazon MGM, has yet been set.