Morgan Spurlock, ‘Super Size Me’ director, dead at 53
Morgan Spurlock, the director best known for creating Super Size Me, has passed away aged 53.
Spurlock’s family have confirmed news of the filmmaker’s death, which was due to complications with cancer. The Oscar-nominated director died in upstate New York on May 23rd surrounded by family. No further details have been released about his passing at this stage.
In a statement, Spurlock’s brother, Craig Spurlock, who frequently collaborated with the director on many projects, said: “It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan. Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas and generosity. Today the world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
The director rose to prominence with Super Size Me in 2004, which saw him live exclusively from a diet of McDonald’s for a 30-day period. Furthermore, whenever a McDonald’s staff worker offered him the option to super size his meal, he was unable to refuse.
By the end of the 30-day period, Spurlock had gained 25 pounds, suffered liver dysfunction, and fallen into a state of depression. Super Size Me provided a wake-up call to many around the world about the realities of regular fast food consumption and the potentially damaging health effects. As a result of the film, McDonald’s stopped selling their super size portion.
Speaking to IGN about the documentary upon release, Spurlock said of his aims: “Well, my whole goal with picking them was because they are a huge corporation and because they are the biggest. They are the biggest food company in the world… The film isn’t about McDonald’s. The film is about this fast food culture that we live in and how we over eat and under exercise. To me, McDonald’s represents every food. They’re iconic of the food problem, they are iconic of the food industry.”
Other notable projects Spurlock worked on include the 2008 documentary, Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, and the 2013 documentary concert film on the world’s then-biggest boyband One Direction, titled, One Direction: This Is Us.
In 2017, amid the MeToo movement, Spurlock shared a blog post that admitted he was “part of the problem”. In the piece, he acknowledged previous unacceptable behaviour, including infidelity, and that he once reached a settlement with a former assistant following an allegation of sexual harassment. Additionally, Spurlock said he was accused of rape while at college but denied any wrongdoing in that instance.
Following the blog post, Spurlock’s career effectively came to an end, and YouTube Red refused to distribute Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! despite previously acquiring the rights to do so. The aforementioned 2017 sequel was his last film.
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