IN Austin, Tex., Richard Linklater, a filmmaker known for the whimsy of "Slacker" and "School of Rock," is planning a big-screen adaptation of "Fast Food Nation," the 2001 exposé book by Eric Schlosser. Filming began Monday in Texas and will continue at locations there, in Colorado and Mexico. The preparations have had the secrecy of a stealth mission. A recent call to the production office requesting information about the movie provoked a crackling pause on the telephone line. The hesitant voice finally said, "You mean ... 'Coyote'?"
In September, The Austin American-Statesman reported that the drama, written by Mr. Linklater and Mr. Schlosser and starring Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace"), is hiding under the sheep's clothing of a pseudonym. The false name - "Coyote" - was chosen, the newspaper said, to help the production gain access to franchise restaurants and other industry locations that might be off limits if the movie's true source material were known. (The blog Cinematical.com recently asked, "Is 'Coyote' itself a smokescreen to throw us off the scent of the real fake title?")
Ricky Strauss, president of Participant Productions, which owns North American rights and is an investor in the film, said the movie's title was "still in development."
"Sometimes filmmakers have to adjust the title so that a movie can be made without undue attention," he explained, while declining to say whether this was one such case.
Mr. Linklater was unavailable for comment, and the co-producer Ann Carli played down the film's connection to its muckraking source material. "We're just using the fast food industry as a backdrop for a multitude of characters," she said. "It's not a polemic. It's a character study, set in the world of the fast food industry. It's about how people grow up and make decisions to do they things they do. It's about what turns their lives." Whether Mr. Linklater's completed film, whatever its title, proves an effective exploration of such matters remains to be seen.
Participant's chief executive, Jeff Skoll, a co-founder of eBay, has promised to put his money behind films that make a difference. The company's corporate Web site, www.ParticipantProductions.com, explains that the company "believes in the power of media to create great social change."
"Our goal is to deliver compelling entertainment that will inspire audiences to get involved in the issues that affect us all," it continues.
In an interview, Mr. Strauss said that "Fast Food Nation" advances Participant's mission "in the sense of encouraging corporate responsibility."
The marketing plan for each Participant film includes activist outreach, especially on another company Web site, www.participate.net. Participant's first dramatic features, "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "North Country," opened this month - and the campaign for "North Country," whose plot involves issues of workplace discrimination and domestic violence, invites Web site visitors to "Sign the Women-Friendly Workplace Pledge" and "Implement a sexual harassment policy at your school." Although Mr. Strauss said Participant has had "internal discussions" about its "social action campaign" for "Fast Food Nation," the company will wait to announce its plans until the film is complete.
A producer of the movie is the Oscar-winning Jeremy Thomas ("The Last Emperor"), whose London-based HanWay Films and Recorded Picture Company are also expected to back Mr. Linklater's film. Mr. Thomas did not respond to a telephone request for an interview.
Participant's first two releases were set comfortably in the past. This film tackles issues and institutions that are very much alive (as does the forthcoming oil business-spy drama "Syriana," of which Participant is a producer), however, and so it may meet with a lot more resistance.
"I've got a bunch of people snooping around for info on this movie, and nobody can find anything," said Pete Meersman, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association, who appears briefly in Mr. Schlosser's book. Although his colleague Richie Jackson, head of the Texas Restaurant Association, did not return calls for comment, Mr. Meersman said he had been in touch with Mr. Jackson. "Richie can't find anything either," he said. "It's weird."
When told that the film could have a pseudonym, Mr. Meersman said, "If people are willing to lie about what they're doing, they can probably talk their way into most anywhere, and that could be a problem."
Susan P. Kezios, president of the American Franchisee Association, a trade group for franchise holders, pointed out that fast food giants are capable of fighting back. "If corporations got wind that this is happening, they could issue an order overnight to all franchisees that says, 'In order to be in compliance with your franchise contract, do not let any filmmakers in,' " she said.
But Robert Zarco, a Miami lawyer and franchise law specialist, thinks corporations would have a hard time slowing the "Fast Food Nation" movie down. He said that a franchisee's contractual obligations must be balanced with First Amendment rights. So long as the filming does not disclose confidential and proprietary franchise system information, Mr. Zarco said, "I believe that a franchisor will have an extremely high hurdle to leap to default and then terminate a franchisee for having permitted the filming of its business location."
Despite any obstacles, Mr. Linklater's associates believe he'll get access to the locations he needs. His friend Erwin Stoff (who is also a producer of Mr. Linklater's forthcoming "Through a Scanner Darkly") said the director has "the most Zen persuasive powers."
"I've never met anybody who sells less - and in the process, ends up selling you more," he said.
For Mr. Skoll, a greater problem than grabbing shots on hostile turf may be the need to reconcile seeming contradictions within his own growing empire.
In recent years, the Skoll Foundation, which shares Participant's commitment to social change (though it has no direct ties to the film company), has had its own encounters with the fast food industry - as an investor. According to its tax statement for the year ending Nov. 30, 2003, the foundation's $161 million in assets included $1.3 million worth of shares in fast food companies and their suppliers. Holdings included Yum! Brands (which claims to be the world's largest fast food restaurant company and includes Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell and other chains), Kraft Foods, Cadbury-Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Bottling Group, and Aramark, a vending machine company.
Mr. Skoll, who is the foundation's chairman as well as the founder and chief executive of Participant, said, "I don't see a conflict between these investments and our intent with 'Fast Food Nation.'" The film, he said, is "intended to educate consumers about industry-wide practices, not pick on the practices of any specific company."
The foundation's president and chief executive, Sally Osberg, defended the foundation's investment strategy. "It's only inconsistent on the surface," she said. "Our investment managers vet the companies. We vet the managers. Those managers will drop those companies if they don't evolve to meet the demands of an enlightened and informed consumer." Ms. Osberg also pointed out that these investments amounted to only a small fraction of the foundation's stock portfolio.
And, Mr. Skoll noted, this will not be the last time that a Participant film will cause him to question his investments. "We're doing a film on global warming, and I'm going to have to ask, 'Do I personally or does the foundation have investments in car companies or other things?' " he said. "When you start thinking about all the potential cross-pollinations, you have to ask, 'Where do you draw the line?' "
This is especially difficult in a field with as wide a reach as fast food. Morgan Spurlock, who directed and starred in "Super Size Me," the 2004 documentary, said that he had seen a version of the "Fast Food Nation" script, and in an interview he praised the film's comprehensive look at this huge industry.
"You see how deep the tentacles run," Mr. Spurlock said. "You see how big the web is."
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