Morgan Spurlock was a documentary filmmaker best known for his 2004 movie “Super Size Me,” for which he ate nothing but McDonald’s items for 30 days.
- Died: May 23, 2024 (Who else died on May 23?)
- Details of death: Died in upstate New York of complications from cancer at the age of 53.
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Morgan Spurlock’s legacy
Prior to his “Super Size Me” fame, Spurlock was a playwright whose play, “The Phoenix,” was awarded at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival and won further acclaim. He also created the webcast, “I Bet You Will,” which grew from five-minute short films into a full show for MTV. But his success burgeoned with the 2004 release of “Super Size Me.”
For the documentary, Spurlock planned to eat every item on the McDonald’s menu at least once over the course of 30 days, consuming the restaurant’s fast food for all three meals each day and no food from any other sources. When asked if he’d like to “supersize” a meal – a standard prompt at the restaurant at the time – he always said yes. The movie chronicled his growing addiction to the fast food, even as he felt increasingly unwell over the course of the month. Having visited his doctor before the project and received an entirely clean bill of health, Spurlock discovered in checkups through the month that his health was plummeting. He gained 25 pounds, his liver and heart health declined, and he experienced depression, fatigue, and headaches.
After his “Super Size Me’ experiment, Spurlock was able to regain his health on a “detox diet,” and that wasn’t the only change. Shortly after the movie’s release, McDonald’s announced they would discontinue the supersize option for their meals. Fast food restaurants as a whole began offering more meals that were billed as healthier options. In a 2019 follow-up film, “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” Spurlock took on the healthier rebranding of the fast food industry as he worked to open his own fast food restaurant.
Spurlock also created several other documentaries. In 2008’s “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” he traveled the Middle East attempting to locate the Al-Qaeda leader. “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” in 2011 explored product placement and advertising. He directed the concert film “One Direction: This Is Us,” among several other projects. In 2017, Spurlock’s career and reputation took a hit as he published a blog post admitting to sexual misconduct in his past, including cheating on his partners and being accused of sexual assault while in college.
Notable quote
“The thing is, it’s not that I think McDonald’s should stop operating business. Once in a while it’s not a bad thing. But what’s happened is that we’ve turned this into a cornerstone of our diet. ‘You deserve a break today’ is now like ‘You’re right! I deserve one every single day! Because I’m too busy! And I work hard! And I deserve it!’ So for me I think there’s just been so many pieces of the puzzle, one of which is the advertising, the marketing, the way they target kids. The way they mass-market their toys and their food and the image of being so ‘happy’ and ‘wonderful’ to children, it’s terrible.” — from a 2004 interview for Neil Young’s Film Lounge
Tributes to Morgan Spurlock
Full obituary: Los Angeles Times
