Hot off his Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination for his comeback turn in Birdman, Michael Keaton is apparently in talks to play McDonald’s kingpin Ray Kroc in The Founder, a dark drama whose script, according to The Hollywood Reporter, “has been described as being akin to The Social Network and There Will Be Blood.” So don’t expect a cheerful celebration of franchising and capitalism, especially since the screenplay was written by Rob Siegel, whom I had the pleasure of working alongside many years ago at The Onion, and who has subsequently gone on to write the tough and gritty The Wrestler, direct as well as write the terrific, 1970s-style character study Big Fan—starring Patton Oswalt in a revelatory performance—and co-write the slightly less gritty snail-racing-movie Turbo. 

The film will tell the story about how Kroc, a salesman from the Midwest, met the McDonald brothers, (Mac and Dick) and, blown away by the speed and efficiency of their food-making process, proceeded to hamburgle their techniques and trade secrets and take over a company that would someday become a massive global monolith and cornerstone of the international fast-food economy. The film will be produced by Jeremy Renner through his production company, The Combine, and Don Handfield’s Film Nation shingle. It will be directed by John Lee Hancock, whose credits include Saving Mr. Banks (a slightly more chipper look at collaboration), The Blind Side, and The Alamo.