Michael Keaton Is The Man Who Launched McDonald’s In ‘The Founder’
He's lovin' it.
Because he’s still chasing that Oscar at the end of the rainbow, Michael Keaton will star in a film about the businessman responsible for the 1960s global expansion of McDonald’s called The Founder. Empire reports that Keaton will play the somewhat shady Ray Kroc (yes, that’s his real shady name) who bought up the family restaurant from the original McDonald brothers (played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch). The film also stars Laura Dern and Linda Cardellini.
This doesn’t necessarily sound like an interesting story, but then again, who would of thought that The Social Network would be at all tolerable? We all tolerated the hell out of that movie! It’s also directed by biopic veteran John Lee Hancock, who directed The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks.
It’s tempting to think that The Founder will be a kind of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Quarter Pounders, but you get the impression that Ray Kroc was a pretty dodgy guy who ripped off the McDonald brothers quite badly (according to Ray’s highly entertaining Wikipedia page, he was well know for his aggressive approach to business, described as ‘Kroc-style’).
Movies about American finance and corruption are very in vogue these days, think The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, because critiquing (or appearing to critique) U.S industry in a surefire way to ensure that your film attracts critical acclaim. Because of this, The Founder will probably be more concerned with the delicious taste of greed than the delicious taste of McNuggets.
The Founder will be released in the U.S in August.