It Sounds Like Chaos on the Set of the 'Madden' Movie as One Actor Reportedly Quits Over Locker Room Nudity and the N-Bomb, While Nic Cage and Christian Bale's 'Method' Acting is Driving Everyone Insane

By now everyone should have heard about the movie currently in production about John Madden and Al Davis:

It sounds almost too good to be true. A perfect cocktail of a great subject that's never been done before, a biopic focused on two of the most colorful, recognizable characters in American life over the past 80 years, two compelling A-list actors, directed by a 3-time Oscar nominee for sports films The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. In a world of sequels, prequels, franchises and reboots, this is the content Hollywood needs to be giving us more of. 

And for me, it's semi-personal. The Raiders teams of the Al Davis-John Madden Era were the bane of my existence. The Wild Card playoff (known locally as "The Roughing the Passer Game) the Patriots lost at Oakland in my formative years was to me what seeing his parents get shot in an alley was to Bruce Wayne. It made me the dark, brooding fighter for justice I later became. 

Moreover, I recently read the book Badasses, about that very era. And it's impossible not to admire a team that took on parts of the identity of both men for the better part of the decade. That took pride in adopting Davis' rogue, rebellious, maverick nature. While assimilating Madden's brash, loud, animated style. And above all, personifying both men's love of the game and sense that they in it together, the Raiders against the world. Misfits who set themselves apart from every other team. 

So hell yeah. Bring it on. But early on, it sounds for all the world like this is one of those "troubled" productions they make documentaries about:

Emphasis mine:

Source - A supporting actor in the upcoming "Madden" film quit on Friday -- just two weeks into production -- allegedly over the use of the N-word and full frontal nudity … but sources close to Amazon Studios tell us the allegations are being twisted.

                   

Here's the deal … TMZ spoke with five members of the cast and crew  … and they independently leveled some serious claims about the film's director, David O. Russell.

Crew and cast members told us that on Friday, Russell was working with the unnamed actor on an impromptu monologue when the director allegedly said the N-word … and that upset the actor, along with others, who allegedly walked off set before they broke for lunch, and subsequently wrapped for the day. 

Studio sources tell TMZ … It was actually the actor's idea to include the N-word in the scene after a private creative conversation with the director … but ultimately the word was not used when they shot the scene. The sources stand firm -- David did not say the word while shooting the scene -- but declined to speculate what upset the actor and others in the moment. 

We're also told by the cast and crew sources that a day earlier, the same actor made it clear he did not want to be nude in a scene -- a locker room setting -- which allegedly pissed off David, and his reaction was "unprofessional." …

David, calmly, said he didn't have to be in the shot. The studio stressed that nudity was not sprung on anyone -- everyone knew well in advance parts would be on display. …

One "Madden" individual told us production had been a "mess" with conflicts, like the aforementioned allegations … and tensions were being exacerbated by Nic and Christian, who are both true Method actors -- portraying their characters with an intensity that doesn't end when the cameras stop rolling.

I won't even attempt to sort out what actually happened between Russell and this unnamed actor. Other than to repeat that the studio and TMZ's own sources for this story insist Russell said no offense word and no one was being pressured to have their dongs out on the set. I boldfaced those parts so as not to suggest the director did anything wrong here. 

What I am suggesting - in fact, I'm straight out predicting - all this, plus the stuff about Nic Cage and Christian Bale adding to the tension with their wacky decision to stay in character throughout, will help make this movie great. This kind of conflict on the set has been making bad films good and good ones legendary since the invention of moving pictures. Watch any "Making of" documentary and you'll know what I'm about. Jaws. Apocalypse Now. The Shining. Those are just three examples of films that almost ended careers, bankrupted studios and almost killed people working on them. Actors and directors getting on each other's last nerve is rocket fuel that can launch a simple sports biography movie into the stratosphere. And that Method nonsense has always been a source of contention among people in the industry. Spielberg would address Daniel Day Lewis as "Mr. President" while filming Lincoln. But an old school, classically trained Sir Lawrence Olivier humilated Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man by telling him, "You might want to consider just acting."

But most of all, this exact kind of chaotic tension and conflict is what made Davis and Madden's Raiders the Raiders. They ate this kind of shit for breakfast. They fought, they argued, they drank, they insulted each other, then they took the field on Sunday and did great things. And I can assure you that slurs and hanging brain in the locker room were a daily occurrence. If ever there was the perfect mood on a movie set for making Madden the cinematic masterpiece these two legendary figures deserve, it sounds like David O. Russell has achieved it.