‘Excited’ about Founder role

Stepping from sitcom onto the big screen

Nick Offerman is doing his best to distance himself from his droll Ron Swanson character on the Parks and Recreation sitcom.

A next step toward that goal is his dramatic role in the biopic The Founder, which focuses on the origins of the McDonald’s restaurant chain.

In the film, Offer man plays Dick McDonald, the brother of Mac ( John Carroll Lynch).

Together, the duo systematically invent a fast food preparation and delivery system in their 1950s San Bernardino, Calif., hamburger outlet.

The Founder also profiles Ray Kroc ( Michael Keaton), an aggressive t ravelling salesman who transforms t he McDonald brothers’ creation into a worldwide chain by tricking them out of the company they invented.

“I was excited to get involved,” says Offerman who plays Dick with a dedicated determination and minus the trademark Ron Swanson moustache.

Instead, the actor sports Dick’s haircut and glasses: “And the fact that he wears a suit to work at the restaurant put me in a businesslike frame of mind that I think he maintained.”

In fact, it’s Dick “who is the idea guy” and patterns the food assembly in their restaurant after Henry Ford’s automotive manufacturing process.

Among other innovations, Dick comes up with the golden arches concept as a way to attract attention to their restaurant.

“I knew the macro parts of the story but it was the personal and familial story of the McDonald brothers that was an absolute revelation,” Offerman says.

“I was thrilled to find out they were on the side of the little guy.”

Adds Lynch: “That’s what t he McDonald brothers were shooting for — excellence. And that’s how we tried to represent them.”

However, director John Lee Hancock says that he wasn’t i nterested in depicting a heroes- versus- villain piece or taking sides in the debate.

But clearly the brothers suffer the consequences of their naivete in their dealings with Kroc.

“I think of The Founder as more of a Rorschach test for viewers,” Hancock says.

Certainly, the brothers represent “a bedrock American trait of persistence and inventiveness” while Kroc “is single- minded in his ambitious salesman” approach. The McDonalds think big in terms of statewide expansion, but it is Kroc who has designs on “huge growth” t hrough f ranchising t he brand, Hancock points out.

Offerman has his own thoughts. In his assessment, he says the movie outlines how Kroc “appropriated” the company from the McDonalds grasp, and then tried to take credit for their ideas.

That’s why the actor says that he’s proud of the way The Founder showcases “the brothers sweat equity and elbow grease” in developing something unique.