We've seen Michael Douglas play crazy before, but not in the rare scenery that populates "King of California."

That is: Hiking past a Chuck E. Cheese's, peering from a hill down at a 76 gas station, digging up the floor inside a Costco.

Douglas stars as an off-kilter man searching for gold in Southern California suburbia in "King of California," which opens Friday after playing at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals.

Evan Rachel Wood is his daughter, and is seen on-screen inside a McDonald's wearing the fast-food chain's uniform - nearly unheard of in a movie, as the fast food chain is supremely protective of its image.

First-time filmmaker Mike Cahill lightly skewers the corporate sameness of the 'burbs with a script that's not exactly friendly to the brands that get placed front and center.

Woods' time working at McDonald's feels bleak. A Costco manager turns out to be a swinger. These companies certainly didn't pay his producers for product placement.

But to make his film feel real, Cahill insisted on involvement from real companies.

"I wouldn't want to use any indie names or faux names like McHappy's or something," he said. "You've seen it a million times and it takes you right out of the story. Your belief is diminished."

Cahill submitted his script to numerous corporations in order to get clearance. It took weeks of stop-and-start negotiations, through friends of friends and eventually through lawyers.

Casting corporations took some finesse. Wal-Mart was the first choice to play the big-box store. But despite interest from an art-loving Walton heir, the company's conservative values didn't fit with the script's call for an employee who practices free love. Burger King likewise asked for script changes that Cahill wasn't willing to oblige.

Costco, which along with other corporations was skewered more ruthlessly in Mike Judge's 2006 "Idiocracy," didn't have a problem with the themes. Climactic scenes were shot at a store in Saugus, northwest of Los Angeles.

"They just said go for it," Cahill said. "We shot in the store, we used their name, everything. They were terrific. I love that place."

McDonald's set Cahill up at its own production studio in the city of Industry, built to look like a restaurant. But not before making some tweaks.

"McDonald's actually did object to a couple things in the script, and I was able to find alternatives that didn't bother me, and made them happy," Cahill said. "Like two lines of dialogue were altered. And it's worth it, because nobody gets to shoot in their stores."

The McDonald's studio - with a green room, uniforms and magnetic quick-change wallpaper - is where many of the company's TV spots are filmed. Two corporate minders were called in to oversee Cahill's shoot.

"They gave me notes, they told me how to shoot it, which was interesting. They made suggestions which I rejected," the director said. Then one suggested he use a line featured in the company ads.

"I said OK, one time. For you," Cahill said. Woods can be seen in the film peering directly into the camera and saying, "Welcome to McDonald's."

"They helped us make the movie better," Cahill says.

Cahill spotlights but doesn't demonize the bland corporate world that sprawls across SoCal hills and much of the country.

"I don't point the finger. There's no way I'm going to impinge on their business. ... It's just us. It's what we're doing," he said. "I think that's why McDonalds wasn't bothered with the script. Because it's just there. It's what we do."

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Staff reporter Ryan Pearson covered the Sundance and Toronto film festivals for asap.