As recently announced, Saving Mr. Banks' director John Lee Hancock's next film will be The Founder, a corporate bopic about the early years and rise to global domination of the McDonald's fast food corporation. Michael Keaton is in place at the top of the cast as Ray Kroc, the Illinois businessman who liked the company so much he bought it. And now Laura Dern is in talks to join the project as Kroc's first wife Ethel{
The story revolves around 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, by the sound of it rather neglecting Ethel in the process.
Unsurprisingly, the comparison being most bandied about is David Fincher's Facebook drama The Social Network, but there have also been intriguing whispers about 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, and Jeremy Renner is among the producers, via his production company The Combine. The Weinsteins are co-financing, and The Founder currently has a release date of November 25, 2016.