Nicolas Cage scribbles up an impression in the first Madden trailer

If the teaser trailer for the film, released online earlier today, is anything to go off of… Maybe half-and-half? Cage is clearly having fun in the part, which sees him slathered in prosthetics, and, in the most eye-catching scene of the teaser, scribbling all over a whiteboard with manic confusion and just a touch of glee. He certainly doesn’t sound much like Madden, but, at the same time, he’s hitting the energetic peaks that made the coach-turned-commentator such watchable television. Certainly, it’s a more eye-catching performance than the lizard-like turn Christian Bale is giving as football exec Al Davis, who’s introduced early in the trailer telling us that “There’s only one John Madden.” We’ll see!

Elsewhere, we get glimpses at co-stars John Mulaney, Kathryn Hahn, Sienna Miller, and Shane Gillis—and, perhaps even more importantly, a tiny peek at an early incarnation of the ludicrously successful football video game franchise that Madden lent his name to—along with a reminder that all of this stuff is still a damn long way off. Madden is currently set to arrive in theaters on Thanksgiving 2026.