Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale Are Unrecognizable in Madden First Look
Nicolas Cage Looks Nearly Unrecognizable With Gray Beard and Hair on Red Carpet
This isn’t a flea flicker—it’s really Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale in the Madden trailer.
In the new trailer for the Prime Video series released Sept. 24, which will star Cage as legendary NFL coach John Madden and Bale as Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, the duo are completely transformed into the Hall of Famers.
Cage, for his part, traded his signature dark slicked-back hairstyle for Madden’s impressive blond flow. The 62-year-old also bulked up to match the football lineman physique, completely transformed from his typically lankier frame.
Bale, 52, was arguably even harder to identify as Davis, trading his brunette hair for the Raiders exec’s slicked back pompadour and topped off his look with Davis’ signature frames, seen sporting both oversized sunglasses and reading glasses of the era throughout the trailer.
While Bale’s role as Davis is a stark departure from his broodier roles like Batman, Cage has earned a reputation for being a chameleon in roles like Adaptation, Dream Scenario and Long Legs.
And the National Treasure star has emphasized the importance of variety in his roles to keep him growing as an actor.
“I see myself very much as a student of film performance and I’m always looking to learn something,” Cage told People in 2018. “That’s why if you look at my filmography, it’s so eclectic. I’m always trying to challenge myself and take those risks and go for the triple axel, even though I might fall on my face. It’s still exciting to go for it and you still get points for trying.”
The Academy Award winner also isn’t taking roles for the accolades. In fact, he loves taking on smaller movies “because the movie is so much fun to make and you love it so much, and not because you get paid a ton of money, not because of winning awards, but because you love the movie itself.”
Bale, meanwhile, previously admitted he has officially laid a boundary when it comes to transformations after gaining weight to play Dick Cheney in Vice in 2018 and then promptly having to lose 70 pounds for his Ford vs. Ferrari role the following year.
Chuck Zlotnick/Prime
“I keep saying I’m done with it,” Bale said during an appearance on CBS Mornings at the time of gaining and losing weight for roles. “I really think I’m done with it, yeah.”
For more stars who have undergone major transformations for roles, keep reading…
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Christian Bale, American Hustle & Vice
The British actor packed on more than 40 pounds for his Oscar-nominated performance as a beer-bellied con artist in 2013's American Hustle. He put on the same amount to play former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 movie Vice, which also earned him an Oscar nomination.
For his 2019 movie Ford v Ferrari, Bale dropped dropped 70 pounds to play slender race car driver Ken Miles. And it wasn't his first time losing weight for a role, having also lost about 30 pounds while filming the 2011 film The Fighter.
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Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
To transform the actress into her role of real life Appalachian grandmother Mamaw Vance in the 2020 film, makeup and special effects artist Matthew Mungle pulled Close's head cast from 2011's Albert Nobbs and sculpted her a new set of false ears and a false nose, according to Variety. The actress received an Oscar nomination for her role.
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Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
For his role as Donald Trump, not only did the actor work with the same hairstylist and makeup artists who transformed him into Tommy Lee for 2022's Pam & Tommy, but he also packed on the pounds to fill out the reality star-turned-president's frame.
Stan said he gained around 15 pounds by eating instant ramen mixed with soy sauce—a dish recommended by his nutritionist to look bloated in the face—and drinking soda.
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Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday
The actress lost almost 40 pounds to play the iconic jazz singer in the 2021 film, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
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Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Was eating, as his onscreen wife Emily Blunt joked "like, an almond every day," a bit nutty? Sure. But the Irish star really wanted to nail atomic bomb scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer's appearance.
"Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right," he explained to The New York Times. "I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes."
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Charlize Theron, Monster
At the 2004 Academy Awards, the gorgeous A-lister was honored with a Best Actress win for her chilling portrayal of real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
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Joaquin Phoenix, The Joker
The actor lost 52 pounds to play the deeply disturbed Arthur Fleck, the man who would become Batman's adversary. The won the Best Actor Oscar in 2020 for his performance.
Clive Coote/Paramount/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock; Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Nicole Kidman, The Hours
It took three hours (and an infamously large prosthetic nose) for makeup artists to render the Best Actress winner completely unrecognizable for the 2002 drama.
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Tom Hanks, Philadelphia
The actor shed 35 pounds and shaved his head to play an HIV-stricken attorney suing his former firm for wrongful termination. Hanks took home Best Actor at the 1994 Oscars, and made a similar transformation for his Oscar-nominated performance in 2000's Cast Away.
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Renee Zellwegger, Judy
The actress, who famously gained a reported 17 pounds to play the title role in Bridget Jones's Diary, did not have to change her physique to transform into Judy Garland for the 2019 film Judy, for which she won her first Oscar. You can thank the makeup and costume department for her transformation.
"Renée was extremely emotionally and artistically involved in Judy, the movie's costume designer, Jany Temime, who also worked on the Harry Potter films, told Vulture. "It was her film. I think she really got into Judy's skin."
Zellweger told the outlet, "Jany fit the costumes to Judy's posture. So the dresses didn't fit me unless I stood like I was supposed to stand. The zipper wouldn't go up."
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Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Quite a departure from Robbie's sultry character in The Wolf of Wall Street, several prosthetics, braces and wigs helped the Best Actress nominee bring disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding's career-ending scandal to life in the 2017 flick.
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Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
The Academy recognized McConaughey's extreme commitment to playing an HIV/AIDS stricken electrician with a Best Actor win during the 2014 ceremony.
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Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
The late actor received a posthumous Oscar in 2008 for his chilling and mesmerizing performance as The Joker in the second film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. His look as the iconic villain differed greatly from those previously seen on past actors onscreen.
"What would it be if this guy slept in his makeup, this psychopath?" makeup artist John Caglione Jr. told IGN. "If he didn't spruce up his makeup for two or three weeks? He never changes his clothes It's those kinds of organic details that really helped."
He continued, "You think of a clown's makeup and for the most part, they're pretty detailed with sharp lines. But this had to be the opposite of that."
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Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry & Million Dollar Baby
The two-time Oscar winner dramatically altered her appearance to play real-life transgender man Brandon Teena in the 1999 drama, and then again in Clint Eastwood's 2004 Best Picture winner.
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Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
In order to play British prime minister Winston Churchill, the 2018 Best Actor nominee spent upwards of four hours in the makeup chair every day and wore a "Victorian corset" style bodysuit.
Fox Searchlight/Kobal/Shutterstock; Luca Teuchmann/WireImage
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Before taking home Best Actress at the 2011 Oscars, the petite actress shed 20 pounds and trained up to 16 hours a day for her role as a mentally ill ballerina.
Anne Marie Fox/Voltage/Kobal/Shutterstock; Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Ever the chameleon, the 2014 Best Supporting Actor winner prepared to play a HIV-positive transgender woman by losing 40 pounds and only staying in character on set.
"I had done similar things with weight, but this was different," Leto told E! News in 2013. "I think the role demanded that commitment…It was about how does that effect how I walk, how I talked, who I am, how I feel. You know, you feel very fragile and delicate and unsafe."
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Brie Larson, Room
The Best Actress winner gained 15 pounds of muscle to play a mother who escapes years of captivity with her 5-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay) in the 2015 film. Larson said she even limited her exposure to the outside world, restricted nutrients like Vitamin D and tailored her eating habits to better grasp what her character experienced.
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Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
At the 2012 Academy Awards, the typically fresh-faced starlet was honored with a Best Actress nomination for her performance in the thriller. Mara went as far as to pierce multiple body parts, bleach her eyebrows and chop her hair to transform into Lisbeth Salander.
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