Fast Food Nation
Directed by Richard Linklater
Director Richard Linklater’s genre-jumping career has ranged from indie cult classics (Slacker) to big-budget studio musicals (The School of Rock), but he rejected going into documentary mode when adapting Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction bestseller Fast Food Nation for the screen.
“It would have been redundant. Eric’s book did a brilliant job of presenting a detailed and compelling factual account of the fast food industry. I’d read and admired the book but never felt the impulse to put it on the screen,” says Linklater. “When Eric and I met, he actually proposed making a character-driven film loosely based on the book, and that intrigued me for several reasons. First, I’d always wanted to show how a boots-and-hard-hat industry functions from the perspective of a worker looking up ever since I worked as a laborer on an off-shore oil rig when I was in my early twenties. I saw meatpacking in Fast Food Nation as an opportunity to do that.”
“Also, as a director, I have to find my way into a film, and I’m much more drawn to personal stories than to statistics. Audiences are the same way: They understand and care more about characters they can identify with than cold, hard facts. I think you can tell great truths through fiction.”
MERIN: Since the characters are all invented, how did you decide who they would be? Are they representative of different types of people who are effected by the fast food industry?
LINKLATER: Yes, to a certain degree. The fast food industry touches almost everyone’s lives, so there are lots of characters to choose from. But I think they also represent me during different times in my life. Like working on the oil rig is difficult and dangerous the same way meatpacking is: I learned on the job, just the way Raul [Wilmer Valderrama], Sylvia [Catalina Sandino Moreno] and the other meatpackers aren’t trained to use equipment or how to keep the meat clean. The working conditions are disgusting, but they learn to ignore them and wind up telling jokes while they’re standing in a pool of blood.
Then, there’s the young student who knows something’s wrong and is trying to discover a way to do something about it but feels quite powerless. I know that feeling. And, at the other end of the spectrum, there’s Don Anderson [Greg Kinnear], the fast food executive who finds out there’s shit in the meat but chooses not to say anything about it because he’s worried he’ll lose his job and won’t be able to support his family. I’d have to say that’s me, too—or anyone who fails to speak out when he knows something’s wrong.
There are a lot of characters—more than 40—in the film, and some of their stories never get played out or resolved. Why?
That’s like life: Not everything gets wrapped up neatly at the end of the day. We want people to wonder, ‘Hey, what happened to the guy who crossed the border with Raul and Sylvia, but got left behind in the desert?’ That question might not hit someone until hours after they’ve seen the movie, but it’ll have real impact and be remembered. We want people to experience that kind of curious discomfort.
The characters seem to be villains or victims. Why are there no heroes?
Well, first of all, I wouldn’t say they’re exactly villains or victims. Everyone is there for a personal reason that makes sense to them. For example, Raul and Sylvia want to be where they are because, sadly, it’s better than where they were. Even Mike [the plant foreman, played by Bobby Cannavale], who uses his position to take advantage in every way possible—especially of the women—feels completely isolated and is terrified of losing his job. So, everyone is trapped.
This is about a pervasive and ongoing problem of enormous proportions. Fast Food Nation isn’t Erin Brockovich, with a happy ending and a big payday. The fast food industry affects the lives of millions of people who work in it—from the meatpackers to kids behind counters taking orders—or who consume its products and become part of our country’s increasingly obese and unhealthy population. There’s no hero whistleblower to wrap it up nicely for the audience. We want them to become more aware and be alarmed and make decisions or take action.
It seems Fast Food Nation is a film with a social and political agenda. You’ve made many different kinds of films; do you see this as a new development in your body of work or a departure from it?
I think of each film as an individual thing, and the way I approach it depends on the story. I only work on stories that I like and that mean a lot to me. I don’t really connect the dots between films, and I’m not aware of any singular line of development. Except, I’d have to say, I think I’m always on the side of the workers, and see things from the workers’ point of view. That might be one standout characteristic.
One last question—and it’s something I’m sure everyone’s asking you: Do you eat meat?
I’m a vegetarian and have been for years. But I don’t advocate vegetarianism. I just think that if you eat meat, you should make it your business to know its origin, and you should support people who treat their livestock properly, humanely and who process their meat skillfully—in a clean and responsible way. Anything less shouldn’t be acceptable.
