Von Miller has joined the growing list of people who aren’t sold on Nicolas Cage as John Madden. The Cowboys linebacker claimed that the actor failed to capture the late Hall of Fame coach’s legendary voice.
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“No. No, man. Like, if you didn’t know Madden, if you didn’t know what was going on, like, his voice is totally different,” Von Miller said on Free Range w/ Von Miller. “He’s a great actor, but he didn’t get Madden’s voice right. Nah, that was Nicolas Cage voice.
“It’s already shot and done with already, but if you really saw what John Madden did and what he meant to football as I did, he didn’t get the voice right. The acting, he did get that right, though. But what could you do? Like that’s, that’s the best you can do, and Nicolas Cage is a great actor, so we just gotta ride with it.”
Miller was reacting to a new clip that the Prime Movies X account shared on Tuesday, October 27. It drops viewers into the broadcast booth, where Cage’s Madden sits beside Pat Summerall, played by Joel Murray. The two are handling color commentary the way the real duo did on countless game days.
The response online was far from kind.
Robbie Harvey said, “This is an embarrassment to his legacy,” and plenty of others felt the same way. One reaction summed up the mood: “That’s a really bad impersonation job of John Madden. How did this get greenlit?”
Madden was one of a kind in the broadcast booth. He was a pioneer in how the game was packaged for home audiences, and by all means, one of the greatest ever behind the mic.
Madden joined CBS as a color commentator in 1979, and after a few years on lower-profile games, he moved into the network’s top football duo alongside Pat Summerall in 1981. They were the longest-tenured NFL announcer duo until Troy Aikman and Joe Buck broke that record in 2023.
“Boom!” was a staple for Madden, along with bizarre comments that entertained fans. He’d once pointed out on screen how a pair of “father” and “mother” Gatorade buckets had a “baby” bucket. On another instance, he’d said:
“I think if I come back in another life, I’d like to be a blimp or a seagull.” For many fans, this is the most memorable thing Madden said.
It helps to remember how big a presence Madden was. He coached the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, made eight playoff appearances, won seven division titles, and captured the franchise’s first Super Bowl in Super Bowl XI. Madden was only 42 when he won his 100th game, which made him the youngest coach in NFL history to reach that mark.
He is still the Raiders’ all-time leader in wins, thanks to his .759 winning percentage. That resume earned him a Hall of Fame spot, but his story kept going. His second act was just as big.
His name also powered Madden NFL, which became the bestselling football video game franchise. In 2021, Madden passed away at age 85, casting a dark pall over the NFL world.
“The term ‘Renaissance man’ is tossed around a little too loosely these days, but John was as close as you can come,” veteran broadcaster Al Michaels said, according to the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins.
“A dear friend, a wonderful partner in the broadcast booth and a man who brought so much joy to so many people, I’ll miss him enormously.”
His legacy is one of a kind. He is the reason why broadcast crews interact with teams before practice, and the creation of the digital first-down marker we see on our screens during every game.
The movie Madden comes from director David O. Russell, known for The Fighter, American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook. Cage, 62, was confirmed for the role back in August 2024. Kathryn Hahn, John Mulaney, Sienna Miller, and Shane Gillis also star in the movie.
Moviegoers can catch it in theaters on Nov. 11, and it arrives on Prime Video on November 18. Until then, the cast and crew might have to do some damage control.
Whether the film can win people over once they see the whole thing remains to be seen, but criticism from football figures like Miller means the pressure is already on.