The Founder
Short description
The Founder recounts the true story of Ray Kroc, a travelling salesman from Illinois who spent years peddling milkshake mixers with little to show for it. His fortunes change when he encounters Mac and Dick McDonald, brothers running a modest but remarkably efficient burger stand in Southern California. Impressed by their kitchen system, in which orders are assembled in seconds, Kroc becomes convinced the operation could be replicated across the country. He persuades the reluctant brothers to let him handle franchising, and as the business grows he steadily manoeuvres himself into a position of control, eventually taking the company from its founders and turning it into a fast-food empire.
John Lee Hancock directed the film, which sits between Saving Mr. Banks and The Highwaymen among the seven features he had made at that point. Robert D. Siegel wrote the screenplay. Michael Keaton leads as Kroc, with Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch as the McDonald brothers, Laura Dern as Kroc's wife Ethel, Linda Cardellini as Joan Smith and B.J. Novak as Harry J. Sonneborn. Produced on a budget of 15 million dollars, it took around 24 million worldwide, a modest return.
Audience response has been steady rather than spectacular: on IMDb it holds 7.2 from roughly 203,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 from some 5,539 votes. A critics' rating of 7 out of 10 from 245 reviews places professional opinion broadly in line with viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming began on June 1, 2015, in Douglasville, Georgia.
- Once after a filming day, Michael Keaton bought ice cream for all the crew members. It took ice cream from two trucks to ensure everyone got a serving.
- In addition to selling mixers, Ray Kroc was also a jazz ensemble pianist and a real estate agent.
- Having learned that Ray Kroc played the piano, Michael Keaton began taking music lessons as part of his preparation for the role.
- John Lee Hancock refused to film the movie twice. He changed his mind only after reading the script.
- Director John Lee Hancock and producer Jeremy Renner provided Michael Keaton with a large number of video recordings of Ray Kroc and his interviews.
- While filming the scene where his character breaks a glass table, Michael Keaton injured his hand.
- The film portrays Ray and Ethel Kroc as a childless couple, but in reality, they had a daughter.
- When the main character, played by Michael Keaton, looks at a map for the road to San Bernardino, the city of Irvine, California, can be seen on it. This city simply did not exist in the 1950s.
- At the 66th minute, when Ray returns home, he throws his jacket onto the armchair, but misses, and the jacket falls to the floor. After his dialogue with his wife, we see the armchair again, but the jacket is already lying on it.
- As shown in the film, the first McDonald's fast-food restaurant appeared in San Bernardino, California. The site now houses the McDonald's Museum.
- Tom Hanks turned down the role of Ray Kroc (1902-1984), the founder of the McDonald's chain.
- Before founding the McDonald's restaurant chain, Ray Kroc worked as a traveling salesman for Prince Castle. The company still exists today and supplies equipment to McDonald's.
- The McDonald's restaurants shown in the film were built specifically for filming in parking lots, as the filmmakers were unable to find existing restaurants in suitable locations.
- The script was very appealing to Joel and Ethan Coen. The brothers would have happily filmed the movie, but they were busy with the comedy project 'Hail, Caesar!' (2016).
- A mock-up of the McDonald's restaurant was built adjacent to Ray Kroc's office. Both rooms had speakerphone connections, and phone conversations were recorded simultaneously. This was done to achieve greater authenticity in the reactions of the actors in these scenes.
- The film's screenplay appeared on the so-called “Black List” of 2014—a list of promising but unrealized projects.
- While preparing for the role of Ray Kroc, Michael Keaton rewatched the following films: "The People vs." (James Foley, 1992), "Wall Street" (Oliver Stone, 1987), "The Wolf of Wall Street" (Martin Scorsese, 2013), and "Jerry Maguire" (Cameron Crowe, 1996).
- The McDonald brothers ran a restaurant in San Bernardino, but the film wasn't shot there because the city had changed significantly since the 1950s. Even the chosen filming locations have little resemblance to how the city looked during that period. However, the building of the first McDonald's restaurant was recreated with great accuracy.
- The film was shot in Georgia, where sets depicting 1950s Illinois were constructed. At the time of filming, many structures from those years still stood in Illinois, including Ray Kroc's house and the club he belonged to in Arlington Heights. A replica of the very first McDonald's restaurant can even be seen in Des Plaines.
- In the scene where flies supposedly swarm towards the smell emanating from a McDonald's restaurant, chocolate Cocoa Krispies balls were filmed from a distance instead of insects. They were scattered in front of a powerful fan, making them fly like a swarm of flies.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
