The Weinstein Company has released the first The Founder trailer.  Directed by The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks helmer John Lee Hancock, the film stars Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc the sleazy/savvy (depending on how you want to look at it) businessman who stole the idea for McDonald's and made his fortune on it.

While Hancock's films tend to be a tad rote and unremarkable, the prospect of seeing Keaton in such a meaty role is hard to resist, and indeed the actor looks to be knocking this one out of the park. The script, by Robert D. Siegel (The Wrestler) and Hancock, was in pretty high demand as it made the rounds through Hollywood, but it's hard to imagine an actor better suited for this particular role than Keaton, who's going through a delightful resurgence of late between BirdmanSpotlight, and and now possibly Spider-Man: Homecoming.

And yes, this is most certainly a film to look out for this Oscar season, although Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks was perhaps held in too high a regard sight-unseen before it was passed over for most of the major awards on nominations day, so a wee bit of caution is apt.


Check out the trailer for The Founder below. The film also stars Nick Offerman, Linda Cardellini, Laura Dern, BJ Novak, and John Caroll Lynch and opens in theaters on August 5th.

Here's the official synopsis for The Founder:

Written by Robert Siegel (BIG FAN), THE FOUNDER is a drama that tells the true story of how Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), 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 into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.

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