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Morgan Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American independent documentary film director, TV producer, and screenwriter, known for the documentary film Super Size Me, in which he attempted to demonstrate the negative health effects of McDonald's food by eating nothing but McDonalds three times a day, every day, for one month, and for the reality television series 30 Days.

Spurlock graduated with a BFA in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1993.

Spurlock was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and currently lives in New York City. Before making Super Size Me, Spurlock was a playwright, winning awards for his play The Phoenix at both the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000. He also created I Bet You Will for MTV.

I Bet You Will

I Bet You Will began as a popular internet webcast of five-minute episodes featuring ordinary people doing disgusting, unusual, or embarrassing stunts in exchange for money. Examples include eating a full jar of mayo ($235 dollars), eating a "worm burrito", and taking shots of corn oil, pink bismuth, lemon juice, hot sauce, cold chicken broth, and cod liver oil ($450 for all nine shots). The webcast was a success, with over a million hits in the first five days. The show was later bought and aired by MTV.

Super Size Me

Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me was released in the U.S. on May 7, 2004, and later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary feature. He conceived the idea for the film when he was at his parents' house for Thanksgiving, and while watching TV saw a news story about a lawsuit brought against McDonalds by two teenage girls who blamed the fast food chain for their obesity. The film depicts an experiment he partook in 2003, in which he ate three McDonald's meals a day every day (and nothing else) for 30 days, mandatory that he take the "super-size" option whenever it was offered, the end result being a diet with twice the food energy recommended by the USDA. Further, Spurlock attempted to curtail his physical activity to better match the exercise habits of the average American (he previously walked about 3 miles a day whereas the average American walks 1.5 miles). Spurlock underwent a full examination at the beginning of the experiment, and was monitored by three different medical specialists throughout it. He was of above-average health for his age when he undertook the project, but his health declined dramatically: he gained 25 pounds (11 kg), suffered severe liver dysfunction and developed symptoms of depression. Spurlock's supervising physicians noted the effects caused by his high-fat, high-carb diet—one even comparing it to a case of severe binge alcoholism.

After the completion of the project, it took Spurlock fourteen months to return to his normal weight of 185 pounds (84 kg). His then-girlfriend (now wife), vegan chef Alexandra Jamieson, took charge of his recovery with her "detox diet," which was the basis for a later book, titled The Great American Detox Diet. [1]

Spurlock's critics contend that his movie was a dishonest depiction of how fast food fits in with a regular diet. Spurlock deliberately ate 5,000 calories per day, more than twice what is recommended for a healthy diet. Biology professor Les Sayer has shown it is possible to eat a steady diet of McDonalds and not gain weight, though Sayer states clearly he is not trying to recreate the Spurlock experiment and that his exercise level of "an hour a day 5-6 times a week is not representative of the average North American"[2].

30 Days

Spurlock's most recent project is a television program 30 Days. In each episode, a person spends 30 days immersing him or herself in a mode of life markedly different from their norm (working at Wal-Mart, being in prison, living with a gay person, etc.), while Spurlock discusses the relevant social issues involved. FX began airing the show on June 15, 2005. In the premiere episode of the first season, "Minimum Wage," Spurlock and his fiancée lived for 30 days in the Bottoms neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, earning minimum wage, with no access to outside funds.

In the second season finale, Spurlock spent 25 days locked in a Henrico County, Virginia (a suburb of Richmond) jail to experience life as an inmate.Associated Press, "Spurlock to go behind bars". June 13, 2006. He did not complete the entire 30 days in jail because the majority of inmates in the state of Virginia serve 85% of the sentence, so once Spurlock hit that benchmark, he was released. FX "Thirty Days: Season 2 on the FX Network, Season Finale Episode.

Future plans

• Comedy Central has announced that it is developing a new series called Public Nuisance with Morgan Spurlock. [3]
• Spurlock has optioned the rights for Chris Mooney's book The Republican War on Science in order to create another documentary film. [4]
• Spurlock is also producing a documentary film entitled What Would Jesus Buy?.
• Spurlock has an upcoming role in the movie Drive Thru which is about a fast food restaurant that has its mascot come to life and start killing people.

Trivia

• Spurlock was rejected by the University of Southern California film school five times.
• He worked briefly as a stand-up comedian and in fact was homeless for a period of time before he decided to go to college for film school.
• In late March 2006, Spurlock came under fire for allegedly giving a profanity and insult-laced speech to suburban Philadelphia high-school students. Spurlock has written in his own defense that press reports of his jokes took them out of context and were misinterpreted. [5][6]
• Spurlock is a card-carrying member of the ACLU, as shown in the "Minimum Wage" episode of 30 Days.

Bibliography

Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America ISBN 0-399-15260-1

References

External links

• General

• Morgan Spurlock's weblog
• Super Size Me Official Site

• Interviews

• "The Real Price of a Big Mac": Newsweek interview with Morgan Spurlock
• Morgan Spurlock on The Daily Show
• Sundance Channel interview with Morgan Spurlock
• AOL Television interview with Morgan Spurlock

• Critical

• OpinionJournal.com Debbie Schlussel's criticism of "30 Days" episode on religious tolerance.
• Les Sayer's McDonald's-For-a-Month, an Anti-Super Size Me website which debunks most of Spurlock's claims.
• Kevin O'Connor's McDiet, about one man's weight loss while exclusively eating McDonald's while being critical of Spurlock's agenda.
• Spurlock Watch, a blog by Cato policy analyst Radley Balko, which is critical of Spurlock's actions and work. The blog is currently on hiatus.

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