The life of John Madden, the Raiders coach from 1969 to 1978 and who went on to grow his legend as an NFL broadcaster and namesake of an iconic video game, will soon be the subject of a Hollywood movie produced by Amazon/MGM Studios.
But who can possibly portray the larger-than-life Madden, who died in December of 2021 at age 85? And just as important, who will play the iconic Raiders owner, general manager and — for three years in the 1960s — coach, Al Davis, whose son still owns the team today?
Both actors who will take the roles of the two indelible figures are movie icons themselves with Oscar wins to their names. And on Tuesday, Amazon/MGM released the first photo of the co-stars in character.
Nicolas Cage, the 61-year-old veteran of more than 120 films, will take the role of Madden.
And Christian Bale, best known for the role of Batman in a trilogy of superhero films by Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, will assume the role of Davis, the man credited with coming up with the Raiders’ signature motto, “Just win, Baby.”
Your first-look at Nicolas Cage as John Madden and Christian Bale as Al Davis on set of the upcoming film, Madden. Production is currently underway.
The film follows Madden’s remarkable journey—from his Super Bowl-winning partnership with Al Davis and the Raiders, to creating
In the photo, Bale and Cage as Davis and Madden can be seen displaying Super Bowl rings. They won only one Super Bowl together, however, in 1976. The championship was the first in Raiders history which dates back to the founding of the former American Football League in 1960.
Both Cage and Bale Have Oscars to Their Credit
The AFL finalized a merger with the NFL in 1970, with the more established league assuming control and dividing into two conferences rather than separate leagues. At that point, Davis was officially an NFL owner.
The 1970 season was Madden’s second. When Davis hired him to take over the Raiders the previous year, Madden was two months short of his 33rd birthday making him the youngest head coach in NFL history to that point.
He has since been surpassed by seven coaches, most recently Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams who was hired in 2017 at age 30, and who is still the youngest NFL head coach ever.
Cage won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1995 for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas as an failed, alcoholic Hollywood agent who moves to Vegas with the intention of deliberately drinking himself to death.
He was also nominated for Best Actor in 2003 for his dual role as twin screenwriters in the quirky Hollywood comedy Adaptation.
Bale has four Academy Award nominations to his credit, but like Cage he has won only once. That came in 2010 for his role in another sports biopic, The Fighter. The now-51-old Welsh-born actor took home Best Supporting Actor honors for portraying the half-brother and trainer of pro boxer Mickey Ward.
That film was directed by David O. Russell, who is also at the helm of the Madden biopic, simply titled Madden. Russell was Oscar-nominated as Best Director for The Fighter, but the award went to Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech that year.
Though in real life, Cage is a full decade older than Bale, the characters they play were the opposite. Madden, born on April 10, 1936, was almost seven years younger than Davis, who was born on July 4, 1929.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, however, Madden is not intended as a sports drama.
“Rather, Madden is in part, according to sources, a video game movie,” the Reporter wrote. “It’s the origin story of Madden NFL, one of the biggest video game franchises of all time.”
