This Movie About McDonald's Could Be 'The Social Network' for Fast-Food John Lee Hancock, director of 'The Blind Side,' is reportedly in negotiations to direct a movie on the early days of McDonald's.
By Kate Taylor
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Everyone remembers the Oscar buzz around The Social Network in 2010. Now, imagine if you took all the drama of the early days of a world-changing company and added hamburgers.
The Founder is a drama slated to bring the story of the rise of McDonald's to the big screen. John Lee Hancock, director of The Blind Side, is reportedly in negotiations to direct.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film's tone will be in the same vein as The Social Network, a dramatic take on the triumphs and betrayals of the people involved in Facebook's founding. Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton have both considered or been considered for the role of Ray Kroc, the man who built McDonald's into a fast-food empire, according to Variety.
Related: Christian Bale Won't Play Steve Jobs in Biopic After All
The mega-chain's creation myth does have some plot points in common with The Social Network: while McDonald's retains the names of its founders, the McDonald's brothers, it was Kroc who realized the potential of fast food and spread the chain from coast-to-coast, eventually buying out the brothers. You can even imagine Kroc furiously telling the McDonald's brothers, "If you guys were the inventors of McDonald's, you would have invented McDonald's."
Instead, viewers will likely be treated with moments like Ray Kroc telling an employee, on the topic of the McDonald's brothers, "I'm not normally a vindictive man, but this time I'm going to get those sons-of-bitches."
That's right, Zuckerberg fans – startup strife far predates the tech industry.
