Pro football icon and voice of the NFL John Madden will have his story told in a scripted biographical series. Deadline reports that a limited series chroncling Madden's career is in the works from writer Alex Sohn and director Gavin O'Connor. The project is a collaboration between Todd Lieberman of Hidden Pictures, Adam Kolbrenner of Lit Entertainment Group, Gotham Chopra and Ryan Stowell of Religion of Sports, and Tom Brady of 199 Productions. Brady is also serving as an executive producer on the project, and per the report, his involvement has the Madden family feeling like the series is in good hands.
“If Dad was still around, and he was looking for a few guys to huddle up and tell his story, he’d be thrilled to have Tom Brady leading the huddle," son Mike Madden is quoted as saying.
"I grew up admiring John Madden, first as a coach, then as a commentator," Brady also says of developing the project. "I loved John’s passion for the game, especially his insatiable appetite for educating audiences about football. He welcomed fans with that warm smile, infectious laugh, and exceptional knowledge of the game, making everyone feel as if John were watching the broadcast right next to them on their living room sofa. On behalf of 199 Productions, I’m honored to collaborate with Virginia and Mike Madden, my co-founder at Religion of Sports, Gotham Chopra, and the rest of the creative team, in telling the iconic story of a family man who revolutionized not only the game but the culture of football.”
John Madden's Story Will Be Told
It's noted that the project was conceived initially as a feature film, but given how much Madden accomplished in his career, there's just far too much story to be told that a series would be the better option. Brady says that there's not even a set amount of episodes that the team has in mind, as the plan is to make sure that nothing important is left out.
"When you look at the contribution he made on the field as a football coach, to the transformation of two industries, broadcasting and video games, I just didn’t know how to do that in two hours. How many episodes? That will be dictated by the story, but it’s the three football businesses he was in that we’re going to be exploring," he says.
After the scripts are written, the plan will then be to start casting, at which point they'll be looking for their John Madden. Sales for the project will also commence at that point as well, and as of now, it's unclear where the series will land.