“How the heck does a 52-year-old, over the hill milkshake machine salesman build a fast food empire with 1,600 restaurants, at an annual revenue of $700 million? One word: persistence.”
The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director John Lee Hancock’s The Founder — which stars Michael Keaton as McDonald’s founder and entrepreneur Ray Kroc.
The film, from FilmNation Entertainment and The Combine, tells the story of how McDonald’s rose from a small Southern California-based burger chain to one of the country’s most recognizable brands.
Ray Kroc first met Mac (John Caroll Lynch) and Dick (Nick Offerman) McDonald in the 1950s and was impressed by the brothers’ efficient food-making system. Seeing the potential of the business model, Kroc eventually obtained the company and its name from the McDonald brothers.
The biographical film, which also stars Laura Dern, Patrick Wilson, B.J. Novak, and Linda Cardellini, appears to pack plenty of Hollywood drama and is expected to contend for an Oscar.
The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2014 Black List.
The Founder will make its U.S. debut on Aug. 5.