Following The Alamo, The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks and a screenplay credit on Snow White And The Huntsman, polymath John Lee Hancock seems intent on choosing unpredictable projects. His possible next gig - he's currently at the "in talks" stage - is The Founder: a corporate biopic about the origins and rise of the McDonalds fastfood chain{
The story revolves around Illinois businessman Raymond Albert Kroc, who encountered Mac And Dick McDonald running a small but efficient burger business in 1950s California. Recognising franchise potential in their business method, Kroc went into partnership with the brothers, and eventually bought their share of the business for a reasonably paltry $3m in 1961. He then went about turning it into the ubiquitous multi-billion dollar corporation we know today.
Unsurprisingly, the comparison being most bandied about is David Fincher's Facebook drama The Social Network. But THR also, intriguingly, likens The Founder to There Will Be Blood. Whether that just refers to the focus on a ruthless businessman, or whether The Founder will somehow delve into that tonally gothic territory remains to be seen.
Robert Siegel (Big Fan) wrote the screenplay, but there doesn't seem to be any indication of a possible start date yet. Neither is there a sense of whether Renner is planning to step in front of the camera as well as produce.