The Founder

John Lee Hancock’s film follows milkshake-mixer salesman Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), who in 1954 sees the McDonald brothers’ San Bernardino kitchen and takes their company move by move. Hancock told CBS the title is “intentionally misleading”. The brothers’ history comes over one dinner, including the kitchen they rehearsed on a tennis court. After that, much of the fight is clipped phone calls over things like powdered shake mix, so anyone expecting a boardroom showdown gets a man arguing into a receiver. A line from the motivational record Kroc plays in his salesman years returns near the end inside his own speech. Production designer Michael Corenblith said McDonald’s took no stance on the film; he worked from old blueprints found on eBay, material from the brothers’ family and the 1953 Downey restaurant. Every franchise is one Georgia set, disguised by re-striping the parking lot. The film was made in association with Greece’s Faliro House. Weinstein moved it from August 2016 to a December Oscar-qualifying run to push Keaton for Best Actor. Dick McDonald’s grandson Jason McDonald French said it took some creative liberties but stayed very close to the story. A good fit if leases and contract clauses as plot do not put you off. Not for viewers who want the brothers’ side; the film stays at Kroc’s shoulder.