As if The Founder didn’t already sound promising enough the highly anticipated biopic, telling the story of the notorious McDonald’s exec Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), has just added another very talented actor to its cast. B.J. Novak of NBC’s The Office has now joined the pic, marking the actor/comedian’s reunion with director John Lee Hancock.
The Founder is a dark telling of the rise of the massive McDonald’s food chain. The biopic will detail the true story of how Illinois salesman Ray Kroc met brothers Mac and Dick McDonald (John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman) in Southern California, where they were running a small-time burger operation. Kroc eventually took control of the siblings’ company and turned it into a billion-dollar fast food empire.
Novak, whose other big screen credits include Reign Over Me, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, previously worked with Hancock on his prior film Saving Mr. Banks — the 2013 period drama detailing Walt Disney’s development of Mary Poppins — in which he played music composer Robert Sherman. According to THR, he joins The Founder in the role of a rising executive at the McDonald’s fast food chain where he becomes sort of like a protégé to Kroc.
Laura Dern is also onboard in the role of Kroc’s wife, Ethel. The Founder was written by Robert Siegel (Big Fan, The Wrestler) and aims to hit theaters Nov. 25, 2016.
William Fanelli is a contributor to Flickering Myth – You can follow him on Twitter
Originally published May 29, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
