Will Ferrell is the first to play late NFL coachtelevision broadcaster, and video game pioneer John Madden in a new film from David O. Russellas first reported by The deadline
Just a title Madden, the biopic will be directed by Russell for Prime Video Sports based on a script by Cambron Clark. The film will focus on Madden’s post-coaching career, where he created an even bigger legacy as the larger-than-life broadcaster and co-creator of EA Sports’ groundbreaking NFL video game series, which launched in 1988. Madden continued to lend his name and creative input to the franchise even after retiring from the broadcast booth in 2009.
“After being forced out of retirement by the Oakland Raiders, fiery former NFL head coach John Madden teams up with a mild-mannered Harvard programmer to rewrite his lost legacy by creating the first-ever world football video game,” reads Clark’s official logline.
Ferrell is set to play a CEO of Mattel in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbiefrom July 21, and voices a vengeful terrier in a cheeky talking dog joke Wanderers, which hits theaters this summer. He is also set to team up with Reese Witherspoon in You are invited.
Meanwhile, Russell most recently directed, wrote, and produced 2022’s Amsterdama murder mystery featuring an all-star cast led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington.