James Franco: 'McDonald's was there for me when no one else was'
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.
"I was treated fairly well at McDonald's. If anything, they cut me slack," Franco writes. "And, just like their food, the job was more available there than anywhere else. When I was hungry for work, they fed the need."
It's estimated that one in eight Americans have worked for McDonald's at some point in their lives. The brand employs more than 1.8 million people around the world.