Morgan Spurlock, Documentarian Behind ‘Tremendous Measurement Me,’ Dies at 53

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, finest identified for starring within the fast-food documentary “Tremendous Measurement Me,” died on Thursday on the age of 53.

In an announcement, his household mentioned that Spurlock “handed away peacefully surrounded by household and mates in New York from problems of most cancers.”

Spurlock made a splash along with his 2004 movie, “Tremendous Measurement Me” — his first as a director. Whereas visiting his mother and father for Thanksgiving in 2002, the West Virginia-born director chanced upon a TV information characteristic that reported on two girls who had sued McDonald’s over misinformation concerning the dietary worth of the Chicago-based chain’s meals, resulting in pronounced weight acquire. And the concept for “Tremendous Measurement Me” was hatched.

“A spokesman from McDonald’s got here on and mentioned, ‘You’ll be able to’t hyperlink their weight problems to our meals — our meals is wholesome, it’s nutritious,’” Spurlock informed the New York Occasions in a 2004 interview. “I believed, ‘If it’s so good for me, I ought to have the ability to eat it day by day, proper?’”   

Within the documentary, he ate solely McDonald’s meals for 30 days and chronicled the affect the eating regimen had on his bodily and psychological well-being. Past that, all through capturing the movie, Spurlock didn’t let himself flip down “supersize” choices — the most important McDonald’s parts — if a server provided them. Interspersed with clips of his quick meals consumption have been interviews with numerous healthcare professionals and his doctor. 

By the top of his month-long experiment with McDonald’s, Spurlock, who additionally exercised much less over the course of filmmaking so as to mimic a mean American’s exercise stage, mentioned that he gained 25 kilos and claimed he ended up affected by each melancholy and liver dysfunction. A lot later, in 2017, he admitted to a consuming drawback in a assertion — “not being sober for greater than per week in 30 years” — that many believed could have doubtlessly contributed to (or brought about) the liver points.

Shortly after the “Tremendous Measurement Me” launch, McDonalds opted to discontinue its “super-size” possibility. And a backlash in opposition to the fast-food business had began.

On the time of its launch, the documentary was credited with elevating consciousness concerning the American eating regimen and the weight problems epidemic. “Tremendous Measurement Me,” which had a price range of simply $65,000, grossed an astonishing $22 million on the field workplace and scored an Oscar nomination for the Greatest Documentary in 2004. It additionally led to a sequel, “Tremendous Measurement Me 2: Holy Hen!” in 2019, launched by Samuel Goldyn Movies after it was dropped by YouTube. A lot much less profitable, the film adopted Spurlock as he ran his personal fast-food restaurant and checked out ingredient sourcing, plus how the fast-food business has modified as a complete within the years since his first movie.

Since “Tremendous Measurement Me,” Spurlock produced and directed greater than 70 documentaries and tv collection by way of his manufacturing firm, Warrior Poets. Very like “Tremendous Measurement Me,” his works tried to deal with controversial topics together with the minimal wage and immigrant labor within the tv collection “30 Days” and the battle in Afghanistan “The place Within the World Is Osama Bin Laden.” He additionally directed the 3D live performance movie “One Course: This Is Us” which was launched in 2013.

“It was a tragic day, as we mentioned goodbye to my brother Morgan,” Spurlock’s brother Craig mentioned in an announcement. “Morgan gave a lot by way of his artwork, concepts, and generosity. Right now the world has misplaced a real artistic genius and a particular man. I’m so proud to have labored along with him.”

In keeping with an announcement supplied by the household, Spurlock is survived by his two youngsters, Laken and Kallen; his mother and father; brothers Craig and Barry; a number of nieces and nephews; and his former spouses: Priscilla Sommer, Alexandra Jamieson, and Sara Bernstein.