Ray Kroc was a 52-year-old travelling salesman when he met the McDonald Brothers in 1954. Impressed with the efficiency of their San Bernardino hamburger restaurant, he offered to franchise their restaurants across America. The rest is history and heart attacks.
New movie The Founder, written by Robert D Siegel (The Wrestler), tells Ray Kroc’s story, but also the story of the birth of the modern fast food industry and ultimately the dark heart of American corporate practice. Michael Keaton plays Kroc, with Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch as the McDonald brothers and Laura Dern as Kroc’s first wife Ethel Fleming. The director is John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr Banks), who directed Sandra Bullock to an Oscar in The Blind Side and who gives the once again red-hot Keaton another strong shot at a nomination for his performance as a charismatic but ruthless businessman.
And what does the McDonald’s corporation think of the film? “I don’t believe anyone from McDonald’s has seen it,” says Hancock, on the phone to Time Out Melbourne from Los Angeles. “The extent of what they said publicly was a statement they made when it was announced that we were doing the movie – ‘There are a lot of books about Ray Kroc and it doesn’t surprise us in the least that someone would make a movie about him, he’s a fascinating character.’”
John, what it was about the Ray Kroc story that appealed to you?
When I read the script, I thought: gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever read a script where I am pulling really hard for my protagonist in the first half of the movie – because he’s a little down on his luck and he’s a hard worker – and then I find myself questioning his choices in the second half of the movie and feeling complicit in his rise to the top.
It’s kind of a Citizen Kane Story isn’t it? Gaining the world, losing your soul.
I remember thinking early on, and I said this before: it’s Death of a Salesman with a very different last act.
You don’t paint a very flattering picture of Kroc ultimately but it’s fun watching the rise of this iconic brand in the film, isn’t it?
Right, and you have to give Ray Kroc his due. I guess it depends whether you think the globalisation of McDonald’s was a good thing, or just part of capitalism or a ruination of diets all over the world. There’s no doubt that without his can-do spirit and hard-working personality none of this would have happened.
The earlier part of the film actually makes the burgers very appealing. Do you eat McDonald’s? I'll go first: I eat it probably twice a year…
I would say that in the ten years prior to this I probably had McDonald's four or five times. Since I started [working on] the movie, I’ve probably eaten McDonald's ten times. Something about being around all that made me want it.
It’s funny, because some people who have seen the movie have then texted me saying “I’m in the drive-thru at McDonald’s and I haven’t had McDonald’s in 15 years. You make me want to eat a burger!” I kind of understand that.
The other thing is, it's kind of a beautiful origin story for the McDonald’s brothers when we think about the tenets of their business, which is: everything fresh; a simple menu.
Was it always going to be Michael Keaton in the lead role?
There wasn’t really anyone else. It was just a matter of when he was going to be available, and schedules and stuff. It was a fairly easy process. Thankfully, because I just think Michael is the perfect Ray Kroc.
What did he say was his take on the character?
He said, “Look, there is a lot I have in common with Ray Kroc – I’d like to think of myself as a hardworking guy who will do anything for his family.” So he wanted to make sure it's not just, “Oh, Ray Kroc is a bad guy.” Michael and I talked a lot about the transformation. The change comes about not only in the way that he deals with the McDonald brothers but in his physical attributes – how he walks, how he talks.
The 1950s sets are really fun. And I believe that one of the oldest McDonald's restaurants is still standing. Did you use that, or recreate it?
We built both the original McDonald's in San Bernardino, which no longer exists, and we built the other golden arches restaurant from the ground up. We wouldn’t have been able to use an existing McDonald's, because they weren’t helping us out on the film, and we weren’t asking for help. A lot of care was taken to make things as precise as possible.
"McDonald's weren’t helping us out on the film, and we weren’t asking for help"
Yes, but there would have been a bit of interaction with the corporation to get access to that information? Is that right?
It’s amazing what you can find online. Plus, when you talk to old McDonald's employees that were around during that time it just gives you tons and tons of interesting information. The designer, Michael Corenblith, set out to become a kind of McDonald's historian before he took the job.
It was also interesting because with both McDonald's we not only had to build them from the ground up, but they had to function as restaurants. We shot outside of Atlanta and [the authorities] said, “I don’t care that you're not selling the hamburgers, you’re building a restaurant, you have to get the same permits, the have the same plumbing.” We had a steep learning curve.
At the end of the day, or at lunchtime, did you all sit around and eat burgers?
The kind of “hero” burgers, you know the one that [actors] would actually eat, were being cooked by a food truck that did gourmet hamburgers. And we went through two weeks of testing to make it look as much as possible like the McDonald's food did back then, and still make it look appetising to a contemporary audience. They were actually very good burgers – and I did have one.
The Founder opens Thu Nov 24.
