EA Founder Says Madden Moviemakers Had No Interest In Involving Him
Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins has commented on the upcoming movie about John Madden, the namesake of EA’s popular football series. Hawkins played a critical role in signing Madden himself for what would become one of EA’s most long-running and lucrative game franchises. In the movie, he’s going to be played by comedian and actor John Mulaney.
Hawkins told VentureBeat that the movie is “such a weird thing” because, after meeting with director David O. Russell, he thought he could share some critical insight into the story–but the filmmakers apparently wanted nothing to do with him.
“I thought, ‘Maybe I can help them get the historical details right.’ They had no interest in having me be involved in any way,” Hawkins said.
Nearly a year transpired after Hawkins met with Russell, and he wasn’t sure if the Madden movie was going to move ahead. But now that the movie is back in the news cycle, with Mulaney playing Hawkins and Nicolas Cage playing Madden himself, Hawkins believes the filmmakers have found the money and gained the momentum to make the movie. But Hawkins said he’s not terribly excited about it.
“It’s not one of those things you dream about as a kid. ‘I wanna grow up and see a movie about me where a famous celebrity plays me in the movie.’ It’s not a childhood fantasy,” he said.
Hawkins said he is a fan of Russell’s earlier movie, Silver Linings Playbook, saying it was a “very emotionally relevant, emotionally moving film” that is also “really funny.”
However, Hawkins said he believes Mulaney will play Hawkins in the Madden movie as “comic relief.”
“I’m figuring that my character in the film–the guy playing me is a comedian, right? It’s easy to predict that he’s going to be the court jester in this storyline and provide some comic relief,” he said.
Kathryn Hahn will reportedly play Madden’s wife, Virginia, with Sienna Miller in talks to play the role of the late Raiders owner Al Davis’ wife, Carol. Christian Bale is set to play Davis.
Production on the Madden movie is expected to begin in May in Atlanta. A release date has not been announced.
John Madden only had a relatively short stint in the NFL as the Raiders’ head coach from 1969 to 1978, which included seven division titles and a Super Bowl win. After retiring from coaching, Madden went on to become the most famous broadcaster in the NFL, as well as a key figure behind the Madden NFL video game franchise, which continued even after his death in 2021.
As for the Madden video game series, the next entry is expected to be released in August. We don’t know much about it, but it will feature some kind of Lowe’s branding.