John Lee Hancock is in negotiations to direct The Founder, the story of the rise of the McDonald’s fast food empire.
FilmNation and The Combine, the shingle run by Jeremy Renner and Don Handfield, are producing.
Written by Robert Siegel (Big Fan), The Founder is a drama that tells the true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself in a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
The tone of the script has been described as being akin to The Social Network and There Will Be Blood.
Hancock last directed Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Walt Disney tried to woo P. L. Travers in order to make Mary Poppins. The 2013 Disney movie starred Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.
Hancock, repped by CAA, also wrote and directed The Blind Side, the surprise hit drama for which Sandra Bullock won an Oscar, and The Rookie, a baseball drama starring Dennis Quaid.
FilmNation had no comment.
