The Founder

''The Founder'' is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel. Starring Michael Keaton as businessman Ray Kroc, the film depicts the story of his creation of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain, which eventually involved forcing out the company's founders to take control with conniving ruthlessness. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch co-star as McDonald's founders Richard and Maurice McDonald, alongside Linda Cardellini as Ray Kroc's third wife Joan Smith, and B. J. Novak as McDonald's president and chief executive Harry J. Sonneborn.

The film premiered at Arclight Hollywood on December 7, 2016, and was released theatrically in the United States on January 20, 2017, by the Weinstein Company. It grossed $24 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Keaton and Offerman.

Plot

In 1954, Ray Kroc is a struggling milkshake machine salesman in Illinois. When a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California orders eight of his company's mixers, he goes to see it for himself and finds a bustling hamburger stand named McDonald's. Impressed by its quick service, family-friendly atmosphere, and food quality, he meets with its owners, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. They explain the restaurant's origins and how they found success by focusing on their most popular items, eliminating unnecessary overhead, and redesigning the kitchen around their efficiency-focused "Speedee System".

Seeing an opportunity, Ray suggests the brothers franchise their concept. They explain that they tried, but had difficulty maintaining quality control from afar, so have limited themselves to five locations. After visiting the Phoenix location, which uses Dick's "Golden Arches" design, Ray convinces them to hire him as their franchising agent. They agree under stringent contract terms, including approval over any potential changes to the restaurants.

To finance his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, Ray mortgages his house without telling his wife, Ethel. He recruits wealthy friends as franchisees, but they are uninvolved and do not keep up quality, so he instead franchises to young couples who will work alongside their staff. Soon there are McDonald's restaurants throughout the Midwest. In Saint Paul Ray franchises to restaurant owner Rollie Smith and is immediately attracted to Rollie's wife, Joan.

Ray faces financial pressure due to high operating costs and his low cut of profits, and the McDonald brothers refuse to renegotiate his contract. His bank threatens to foreclose, causing Ethel to learn that he mortgaged their home. Joan proposes switching McDonald's ice cream milkshakes for powdered ones to save on high refrigeration costs, but Dick and Mac refuse. Ray meets Tastee-Freez Vice President of Finance Harry Sonneborn, who helps him evolve his business to a real estate model: He forms the Franchise Realty Corporation and aggressively expands by buying plots of land and leasing them to McDonald's franchisees. Dick and Mac bristle, but Ray counters that their authority extends only to the restaurants, not the land.

Emboldened, Ray defies his contract by introducing powdered milkshakes nationwide. He divorces Ethel, refusing to give her any share in the business. When he rebrands his real estate company as the McDonald's Corporation, the brothers are furious and Mac collapses from diabetic shock. Ray offers them a blank check to buy them out; they agree to sell for $2.7 million, the rights to their San Bernardino restaurant, and 1% of future profits. Ray agrees to all but the final term, offering them royalty payments under a handshake deal, to which they reluctantly concede. Dick asks why Ray didn't simply copy their ideas and start his own business; Ray says that he wanted the name "McDonald's" for its marketability.

The brothers are forced to rename their restaurant since Ray now owns the trademark to "McDonald's". Ray, now presenting himself as the company's founder and his Des Plains restaurant as "McDonald's No. 1", opens a McDonald's directly across the street, driving them out of business. In 1970, Ray, now married to Joan, heavily plagiarizes a motivational speech he listened to early in the film, attributing his success to persistence.

An epilogue states that Ray Kroc's secretary, June Martino, became a part owner in the McDonald's Corporation. Fred Turner, who began as a grill operator, succeeded Kroc as Senior Chairman. Harry Sonneborn became president and CEO but quit in 1967 after a dispute with Kroc. Kroc and Joan remained married until his death in 1984. Kroc did not honor his handshake deal with the McDonalds, never paying them royalties.

Cast

* Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc
* Nick Offerman as Richard "Dick" McDonald
* John Carroll Lynch as Maurice "Mac" McDonald
* Linda Cardellini as Joan Smith
* B. J. Novak as Harry J. Sonneborn
* Laura Dern as Ethel Kroc
* Justin Randell Brooke as Fred Turner
* Kate Kneeland as June Martino
* Patrick Wilson as Rollie Smith
* Griff Furst as Jim Zien
* Wilbur Fitzgerald as Jerry Cullen
* Afemo Omilami as Mr. Merriman

Production

Development

The screenplay for ''The Founder'' was written by Robert Siegel, based on Ray Kroc's autobiography and an unauthorized biography. According to early reports, the film was to be developed in the same vein as ''There Will Be Blood'' and ''The Social Network''. According to ''Deadline Hollywood'', it was ranked the 13th-best unproduced script of 2014. In December 2014, John Lee Hancock was signed to direct the film.

Casting

In February 2015, Michael Keaton was signed to the role of Ray Kroc. Laura Dern joined the film on May 11, 2015, to play Kroc's wife Ethel Fleming, whom Kroc divorced in 1961. The next day, it was announced that Nick Offerman joined the film, set to play Richard "Dick" McDonald. On May 28, 2015, it was announced that B. J. Novak joined the film as Kroc's financial consultant, Harry J. Sonneborn. On June 9, 2015, it was reported that Linda Cardellini had joined the film, and on June 26, 2015, it was announced that John Carroll Lynch and Patrick Wilson had also been cast.

Filming

Principal photography for the film began in Newnan, Georgia on June 1, 2015. Production designer Michael Corenblith had previously worked on films including ''Apollo 13'', '' Saving Mr. Banks'' and '' The Blind Side'' in which attention to historic detail was important. Corenblith worked from archival photos, training films, materials provided by the McDonald family, blueprints obtained from eBay, and research at the oldest McDonald's restaurant in Downey, California. The McDonald brothers' original octagonal San Bernardino restaurant was built in Newnan in the parking lot of the Coweta County administration building.

After a month of searching for a suitable location, an old-style McDonald's building set with the "golden arches" was constructed in a church parking lot in seven working days in Douglasville, Georgia. The set included working and period-accurate kitchen equipment that was brought up to current code. Rearrangement of exterior features such as parking lot striping allowed that set to serve as each franchise location portrayed in the film. Both interior and exterior portions of the restaurant were modular, allowing countertops or entire wall-sized glass panes to be removed to make room for cameras and other equipment.

Filming also took place on location at the Canton Theatre in Historic Downtown Canton, Georgia.

The J. Mack Robinson College of Business Administration Building in downtown Atlanta, which houses a Bank of America branch, served as the Illinois First Federal Savings & Loan Association building. Some interior sets were built on soundstages at EUE Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta. Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club served as Rolling Green Country Club in the film.

Release

On March 2, 2015, The Weinstein Company paid $7 million for the film's distribution rights. On March 26, 2015, the studio set the film for a November 25, 2016 release date. In March 2016, the film was moved up to August 5, 2016. On July 13, 2016, the film's release date was delayed until a limited December 16, 2016 date, followed by a wide release on January 20, 2017. The film eventually opened in the United States at Arclight Hollywood on December 7, 2016, in order to qualify for the 2017 Oscars.

In February 2017 FilmNation Entertainment, one of the film's production companies, sued The Weinstein Company for $15 million. The Weinstein Company released ''Gold'' on January 27, 2017, a week after ''The Founder'', which FilmNation claimed was a breach of contract, saying the two companies had an agreement that no Weinstein Company film would be released within a week before or after ''The Founder''. On November 17, 2017, the case was discontinued with prejudice, with both parties counsel agreeing to the dissolution of the lawsuit.

Reception

Box office

''The Founder'' grossed $12.8 million in the United States and Canada and $11.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $24.1 million.

In North America, the film was expected to gross $3 million from 1,115 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up earning $3.8 million, finishing 9th at the box office. In its second week the film made $2.6 million, a drop of 23.4%.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 246 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Founder'' puts Michael Keaton's magnetic performance at the center of a smart, satisfying biopic that traces the rise of one of America's most influential businessmen – and the birth of one of its most far-reaching industries." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score 66 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

''Rolling Stone''s Peter Travers gave the film three out of four stars, stating director Hancock and screenwriter Siegel did "strive hard—and mostly succeed—at keeping Hollywood sentiment out of the storytelling... Set more than a half-century ago, ''The Founder'' proves to be a movie for a divisive here and now. Step right up. You might just learn something." RogerEbert.com's Matt Zoller Seitz gave the film three out of four stars saying that despite the film over-relying on exposition and failing to skillfully incorporate Ray Kroc's personal life into the narrative, "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about ''The Founder'' constantly since seeing it... It's an ad that becomes a warning before circling around and becoming another, darker kind of advertisement, and one of the most intriguing and surprising things about ''The Founder'' is that, in the end, it seems vaguely ashamed of itself for letting this happen".

Accolades

See also

* List of The Weinstein Company films

References

External links

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Official screenplay

{{DEFAULTSORT:Founder, The (film)
2010s biographical drama films
2010s business films
2016 drama films
2016 films
American biographical drama films
American business films
American historical films
Biographical films about businesspeople
Drama films based on actual events
FilmNation Entertainment films
Films about companies
Films about food and drink
Films about McDonald's
Films directed by John Lee Hancock
Films scored by Carter Burwell
Films set in 1954
Films set in 1970
Films set in California
Films set in Illinois
Films set in Minnesota
Films set in Missouri
Films set in restaurants
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in the 1960s
Films shot in Atlanta
Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)
The Weinstein Company films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
Films shot in Newnan, Georgia
Films about startups
English-language biographical drama films