McDonald's restaurant

McDonald's® restaurant is featured in one of the more memorable scenes in The Fifth Element. The iconic fast-food restaurant is represented with a futuristic twist on the familiar design. The take-out window, small in comparison to the façade — which is easily ten stories high, is built into the side of a soaring tower complex. The façade is painted red and bears the trademark golden arches.

Inside the restaurant, the employees — all female — are dressed in designer Jean-Paul Gaultier's vision of the McDonald's® uniform of the future. The outfit is a strapless red dress with a wide yellow trim that is shaped like the golden arches and frames the server's breasts, cut low in the bodice and back to show off cleavage. The uniform's hemline is never shown in the film, but it is later revealed to reach mid-thigh and is designed to show off the server's legs. The uniform also includes near elbow-length silky red gloves that cover their forearms. In place of a hat, the employees wear a bright red, shoulder-length wig with short bangs and a large, soft bun on top. A hairpiece shaped like McDonald's® golden arches pinned to the front of the bun.

The items on the menu are the classic burgers, chicken nuggets, fries and fountain drinks. The packaging for the Golden Menu meal is a tan-and-brown box with the golden arches on the lid, and a familiar glossy red container for the fries, also embossed with the golden arches. The bright red drink cups have Coca-Cola®'s trademark 'Coke' printed vertically on the side. The actual contents of these Golden Menu meals is never revealed in the movie.

A short time later, during the chase scene, a police car crashes into the side of a McDonald's® supply train. The train more closely resembles an eighteen-wheeler with two cargo containers on a trailer. The containers, colored red and embossed with the golden arches, have the slogan '65 TRILLION SERVED' printed beneath the arches. The contents of the broken containers reveals some of the product and packaging destined for one of their restaurants.

Scene casting

• Marie Guillard portrays the burger assistant at the window who serves the two police officers their 'Golden Menus'. Marie was 25 years old at the time of filming and was already an established actress in French cinema.
• Stina Richardson portrays one of the the two background burger assistants during the scene. Stina was 19 years old at the time of filming and was modeling for Alexander McQueen. She can be seen smiling at the officers on the left side of the take-out window as seen from the cruiser.
• Renee Montemayor portrays the other of two background burger assistants during this scene. Renee was 22 years old at the time of filming and was just getting started in acting. Her face never appears on camera.
• Mac McDonald, credited as 'Flying Cop', portrays the more experienced officer in the cruiser, who's more focused on his lunch than his libido. Mac was 47 years old at the time of filming and making his mark as a character actor, frequently uncredited.
• Riz Meedin, also credited as 'Flying Cop', portrays the younger of the two officers in the cruiser, who flirts outrageously with the burger assistant portrayed by Marie Guillard. Riz was likely in his twenties at the time of filming.

Trivia

• McDonald's® provided a generous sponsorship to the film in order to get a prominent visual product placement. It ended up being a memorable part of Dallas' police chase scene after he first meets Leeloo.
• The scene featuring the McDonald's® drive-thru lasted a whole thirty seconds, and the train wreck lasted less than ten.
• Later, when The Fifth Element was released to cable, the trademarks were all removed or covered up.

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