Cage was cast as the big man himself in David O. Russell’s next film.
«I love to see a fat guy score.»
Why’s that, John?
«Because first you get a fat guy spike, and then you get the fat guy dance!»
John Madden was a football player, a great football coach, and an even greater football announcer, but what’s been underrated was John Madden’s ability to play himself. The lines above from his role in football flick The Replacements starring Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, and a somehow-constantly-foaming-at-the-mouth Jon Favreau have lived rent-free in my head for at least 20 years. Even if he was reading someone else’s script, everything John Madden said just came out like a John Madden line, a trait he shares with Nicolas Cage—I can’t imagine more exciting casting for a John Madden biopic.
Announced today, Cage will be playing the late announcer in a a film that is at least in part «the origin story of Madden NFL, one of the biggest videogame franchises of all time», according to The Hollywood Reporter. Honestly, I think it could work. The usual sports biopic is all about the glory, and I really don’t think we need two hours of teens/twenties/thirties Madden becoming the Master of Football before a final scene where he dramatically dons a headset and steps into the announcer’s booth—cut to black over the roar of the crowd.
