B.J. Novak is reteaming with John Lee Hancock, joining the cast of the director’s latest drama, The Founder.
Michael Keaton is starring in the movie, which details the rise of the McDonald’s fast-food empire, portraying McDonald’s exec Ray Kroc.
Laura Dern and Nick Offerman are among those on the roll call in true story of how Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to wrest the company away from the brothers and created a billion-dollar empire.
Novak will play a rising McDonald’s exec who is Kroc’s protege.
Novak, who is best known for his work as actor-writer-director-executive producer on TV’s The Office, previously worked with Hancock on Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks. Other credits include Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom.
Novak is also the author of two books, One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories and The Book With No Pictures, the latter of which has spent 23 weeks as a No. 1 New York Times best seller.
He is repped by CAA, Price Management and Ziffren Brittenham.
