Joel Santos and Tom Rinaldi describe the experience of making a documentary on John Madden as perpetually being on their own version of the Madden Cruiser.

Over the past 10 months, from a casino hotel outside the Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York to the Amador Valley in Northern California, Santos and Rinaldi have traveled the United States to interview pro football dignitaries on the subject of Madden. The interview list includes individuals known in every football household Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Lamar Jackson, Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Montana, Bill Parcells, Andy Reid, Lawrence Taylor and Roger Goodell, among others. It includes lesser-known people who played a vital role in Maddens life, such as Willie Yarbrough, the driver for 23 years of the famed 85-foot luxury coach. They spoke to Virginia Madden, the NFL broadcasters wife of more than 60 years (they married on Dec. 26, 1959) who worked at a bar when the couple met. They also sat down with the man himself. The journey culminates on Christmas Day at 2 p.m. ET when Fox airs All Madden, a 90-minute documentary co-directed and co-produced by Santos and Rinaldi on the life of the Hall of Fame NFL coach and broadcaster. The doc (actual length: 72 minutes) will lead into the Packers-Browns game on Fox.

The origins of the Madden documentary date back to Fox Sports lead NFL producer Richie Zyontz, who produced Madden and is one of his closest friends. Zyontz proposed the project to Fox Sports chief executive officer Eric Shanks last January during the NFL playoffs.

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Inside the new John Madden documentary: How Fox Sports pulled off its expansive ode to the Hall of Famer - The Athletic