22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Tension on ‘Madden' set as actor allegedly quits over racial slur and nude scene
A supporting actor cast in ' Madden,' the biopic of Bay Area football legend John Madden starring Nicolas Cage, has reportedly quit the production over the use of a racial epithet and objections to a nude scene.
The unidentified actor was working with director David O. Russell on 'an impromptu monologue when the director allegedly said the N-word,' according to unnamed sources cited in a TMZ report posted Wednesday, May 21. The actor and others who witnessed the exchange are said to have walked off set.
A day earlier, the same actor reportedly said he did not want to be in a locker room scene that required full frontal nudity, which allegedly angered Russell.
Sources close to the studio, however, dispute the TMZ report, stating it was the actor's idea to include the derogatory language in the scene after a 'private creative conversation' with Russell. They maintain that the director did not use the slur on set.
The sources also emphasized 'that nudity was not sprung on anyone — everyone knew well in advance parts would be on display.' They claim an intimacy coordinator tried to make the actor more comfortable and suggested different blocking, but he still had an issue so Russell agreed the actor didn't have to be in the shot.
Studio sources told TMZ the actor could return to the production, and that 'conversations' are ongoing.
This isn't the first time Russell has been at the center of on-set conflicts. During the filming of 'Three Kings' (1999), the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and star George Clooney had a physical confrontation, which Clooney later said was 'truly, without exception, the worst experience of my life.'
He also had arguments with Lily Tomlin on the set of 'I Heart Huckabees' (2004), videos of which were leaked to YouTube, and made Amy Adams' life 'a living hell' during the filming of ' American Hustle ' (2013), according to a Salon article that Adams later confirmed.
'Madden' began filming in Atlanta two weeks ago with Cage as the former Oakland Raiders head coach and National Football League broadcaster, and Christian Bale as Raiders owner Al Davis.
One person who is part of the shoot told TMZ that Cage and Bale, both method actors, have been 'portraying their characters with an intensity that doesn't end when the cameras stop rolling.'
