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The upcoming 'Madden' movie appears to be a mess
The upcoming Nicolas Cage-starring John Madden biopic is shaping up to be a disaster. From being pulled from theaters to go straight to streaming to its underwhelming trailer to a now-viral clip of Cage’s performance, all signs point to Madden being a wreck.
A clip of Nicolas Cage doing John Madden’s iconic telestration was released to promote the film and had the opposite effect, as it’s gone viral for its objectively inaccurate portrayal of Madden, which is odd from an actor as famously committed to his craft as the Oscar-winning Cage.
The upcoming Nicolas Cage-starring biopic about NFL legend John Madden is shaping up to be an absolute disaster
“He sounds like 10% Jimmy Stewart, 90% Nicolas Cage, 0% Madden,” one viral reply to the clip summarized.
@primemovies I mean this is basically a desecration of Madden’s legacy. Astoundingly bad.
— Mark Valorian (@markvalorian) October 28, 2026
@primemovies Did he even try to change his voice lmao
— TG🚦 (@tm_garrison) October 27, 2026
@primemovies https://t.co/50T7Ks6QYp
— Shirt Rip (@ShirtRip) October 28, 2026
@primemovies The Norm Macdonald School of putting no effort into an impersonation.
— Hunter S Erickson (@hserickson) October 28, 2026
Madden, arguably the most iconic coach in the history of the National Football League, coached the Raiders for 10 seasons before retiring in 1979 with a .759 winning percentage — a winning percentage that remains the best of any coach with 100+ career wins — and a Super Bowl title.
He then became the first broadcaster to work for all four major networks (CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC), winning 16 Sports Emmys along the way. He also famously lent his name to the Madden NFL video game series starting in 1988, which became the best-selling football game of all time. Madden passed away in December 2021 at the age of 85.
In addition to the Academy Award-winning duo of Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale as Madden and Al Davis, respectively, Madden is also set to star John Mulaney as Trip Hawkins, Kathryn Hahn as Virginia Madden, Sienna Miller as Carol Davis, Joel Murray as Pat Summerall, and comedian Shane Gillis as an apparently boozy Raiders fan, in his feature film debut.