Will Ferrell might star as Madden in the Madden movie

In a post-Super Mario Bros. movie And The last of us world, video game adaptations are the next Hollywood gold rush, and studios are casting their nets on all game genres in hopes of making it big. Next one: MaddenAmazon Studios’ take on the birth of the massive Madden NFL football video game.

By deadlinethe film is directed by Silver Linings Playbook And American hustle director David O. Russell, with Will Ferrell in talks to star as John Madden.

Like Tetrisor even Sky, Madden reportedly sets its sights on the creation of the classic product at its heart. According to screenwriter Cambron Clark’s logline, the film dramatizes John Madden’s pivot from a career as an NFL coach to becoming professional football’s first and most successful influencer — in part through the co-creation of the first-ever realistic football video game, the synopsis notes:

After being forced into retirement by the Oakland Raiders, fiery former NFL head coach John Madden teams up with a mild-mannered Harvard programmer to rewrite his fading legacy by building the world’s first football video game.

On this basis, the film seems to focus on a period of Madden’s life that is excellent for cinema, one that could potentially get to the heart of why John Madden was such a giant figure to a generation that lacks its color commentary. career in living memory. By calling games on television, Madden made football accessible to casual viewers in a way no one had done before – until he did it again, in a video game.

With only Russell and Ferrell involved, the Madden movie has more influence in awards season than any other video game-related movie project; In particular, Russell’s films are regularly nominated for Oscars in multiple categories, and Ferrells plays more dramatic roles (such as 2006’s). Stranger than fiction) though rare, grab the attention of award season.