Actor James Franco: 'McDonald's was there for me when no one else was'

Business Insider ^ | 05/07/2015 | Ashley Lutz

[SeekAndFind]

Actor James Franco has written a lengthy endorsement of his former employer, McDonald's.

The brand has been struggling with declining US sales and announced an extensive turnaround plan this week.

Franco writes in a Washington Post op-ed that in the late '90s he was a struggling actor living in Los Angeles. He was fired from a coffee shop and golf course and couldn't find acting jobs.

He became desperate after his parents cut him off financially.

"Someone asked me if I was too good to work at McDonald’s," Franco writes. "Because I was following my acting dream despite all the pressure not to, I was definitely not too good to work at McDonald’s."

Franco says he began working in the drive-thru and practicing foreign accents on customers.

Despite that fact that he had been a vegetarian before he started working at McDonald's, he began eating the cheeseburgers that were headed for the trash after sitting for more than seven minutes.

"I hate to whistleblow, but everyone ate straight from the fry hopper. You’d walk by and snag a fry and pop it in your mouth. So easy," he writes. "I also put tons of salt on the fries because that’s how I like them."

Franco was eventually promoted to working behind the counter.

He was able to leave his job at McDonald's after booking a Super Bowl commercial with Pizza Hut. Since then, he's become one of the most successful actors in the industry, starring in The Interview, 127 Hours, and Spiderman.

But Franco says he still feels affection for the fast food chain.

[Tanniker Smith]

I don’t know what you’re implying with that reference to stray dogs near McDonalds. That would NEVER happen. If the franchise owner ever attempted to chop up a stray dog instead of using the stray dog meat from corporate, they would be quickly out of a franchise!

[Vendome]

He was promoted to working the counter?

I worked at McDonald’s and you could get promoted to working drive thru.

But, each franchise does things differently

[max americana]

Now, you’ll never see a white guy working counters at McD’s in L.A., they’re all mexiclowns. Why is this even news? Brad Pitt used to don a Pollo Loco suit and Billy Bob Thornton used to work Shakey’s, both locations I pass by everyday. It’s already understood that “non-working” actors here in L.A. are now Uber drivers.

[Vendome]

If I was gay people would understand why my bathroom is so clean...

[Sicon]

The brand has been struggling with declining US sales and announced an extensive turnaround plan this week.

Hmmm, I wonder if they're planning to take a step back from their entirely black-oriented advertising campaign? Maybe have one or two commercials where you actually see white people? Oh, and while they're at it, they might want to start dispersing (and discouraging, rather than inviting) the crowds of feral youth that seem to gather in and around their establishments...

[Mastador1]

Has anyone ever seen a stray dog in the vicinity of a McDonald’s?

I really find this amusing, If he substituted Apple for Mcdonald's in his story there would be a heap of fan boys cheering him!

And no there were rarely any stray dogs around the McD's I managed...........because there were always Chinese restaurants or a Mongolian BBQ in the same center. : )

[max americana]

See post 23. Back then, most of my neighbors in my building in Hollywood were of the biz. There was even one time, there were 3 hot redheads close to me, 2 were print models, and one had recurring roles on CSI. You say hi or chat to them and you get the death stare from their leeching boyfriends.

I replaced my Dad’s vacancy in his apartment and his neighbor was T1000 Robert Patrick when he was unemployed. Had no car at all and he gave my Dad tickets to the premier of Die Hard 2 which was one of his first breaks.

[GraceG]

My first job (other than growing up on the farm) was at a mcdonalds in high school, they tought me some important job skill i used on my college jobs that then turned into careers.

I see McDonalds as “Kindergarden for Careers” and workign the fry line should never be a “Lifetime Career”, however some become managers that manage the peole who work the fry lines and they make a decent living with that job too.

But the fry line cook at mcdonalds should always be job that gets fresh highschool students every year as the veterans of those grunt jobs either get better job elsewhere or they become managers and further their education at hamburger U.

[Finny]

I figured he was just another pouty pretty boy from the few things I'd seen him in, but then watched him in "Flyboys" back in 2006 and he surprised the heck out of me with how he played that role. The movie was a bit lame, but his performance in it was very good.

Now this GREAT endorsement of his for McDonald's and essentially the capitalist system, should warm the hearts of everyone here, and yet ...!!! Just amazing. A lot of FReepers would complain if they were hung with a new rope.

What I liked best about this article is that he was a vegetarian at the time he started working there, but then started eating the burgers!!! 'ATTA BOY!!!!!! Shows both humility (willing to work at McDonald's) and smarts (mature enough to let go of adolescent emotion-based "be nice to animals" vegetarianism).

McDonald's. It's not my favorite place, but it's helped me stay healthy OFTEN because of its inexpensive healthy breakfasts so easy to get on the road, which were around LONG before anyone else had them.

Hooray James Franco.

[originalbuckeye]

‘and all the ‘stars’ who’re out of work, are parking cars or pumping gas’-Dionne Warwick

Yep, the economy needs out of work ‘stars’ to do the work that ‘American Workers’ won’t do. (illegals without driver’s licenses cannot park the cars legally)

[PGR88]

"I hate to whistle blow.... he writes. "I also put tons of salt on the fries because that’s how I like them."

That's how I like them too

[Labyrinthos]

I worked at McDonald’s back in the 1970s. One of the best jobs I ever had for teaching teamwork, personal responsibility, management, quality control, etc. And it was also a fun place to work.

[Dr. Sivana]

Has anyone ever seen a stray dog in the vicinity of a McDonald’s?

I saw a raccoon rifling through a garbage can at Burger King once, is that close enough?

[dennisw]

Robert Patrick... also played owner of a sporting goods store in THE SOPRANOS. The mafia leeched onto him (loans?) and forced him to commit major fraud in this buisness into bankruptcy and a bust out

[dennisw]

+1

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

You know, it’s truly a loss for mankind that he can express his thinking (and thus the lesson that *could* be learned by others if their minds were not sawdust-filled) so simply and in so few words, because I am feeling the microaggression that we missed out on a 3500 word article in The Atlantic and an insulting snarky expose of airborne fat globules from Salon.

[gattaca]

So did I, $1.60 an hour, I had my own car and apartment. Moved up fast there, but took another path.

[dennisw]

James Franco net worth (estimate)

20 million US$ (2015)

[max americana]

Yup. Also shown very briefly in the last episode purportedly to show he was in the same resto’ with the family, out to kill Tony.

[katana]

Several commercials, third billing in two films in the Spiderman franchise, and leads in Oz the Great and Powerful and The Interview .... in a profession where the unemployment rate is around 98% that’s actually pretty successful. Not Tom Hanks or Robert De Niro successful, but not bad for a young guy.