Morgan Valentine Spurlock November 7, β May 23, was an American documentary filmmaker, writer, and television producer. He directed 23 films and was the producer of nearly 70 films throughout his career. Spurlock was executive producer and star of the reality television series 30 Days β Spurlock was also the co-founder of the short-film content marketing company Cinelan, which produced the Focus Forward campaign for GE.
In , Spurlock died at age 53 due to complications related to cancer. His parents, Ben and Phyllis Spurlock, [ 9 ] raised him as a Methodist. He considered Brother's Keeper the greatest documentary of all time. Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me was released in the U. 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 McDonald's by two teenage girls who blamed the fast food chain for their obesity.
The film depicts an experiment Spurlock conducted in , in which he claimed he ate three McDonald's meals every day and nothing else for 30 days, although he later disclosed he also drank copious amounts of alcohol.
The film's title derives from one of the rules of Spurlock's experiment: he would not refuse the "super-size" option whenever it was offered to him but would never ask for it himself. Further, Spurlock attempted to curtail his physical activity to better match the exercise habits of the average American; he previously walked about 3 miles 4. Over the course of filming, Spurlock gained 25 pounds 11 kg , became quite puffy, and suffered liver dysfunction and depression by the end.
His supervising physicians noted the effects caused by his high-calorie dietβonce even comparing it to a case of severe binge alcoholism. Following Spurlock's December assertion that he had not been "sober for more than a week" in three decades, the claims of his liver dysfunction being caused by eating McDonald's food solely for 30 days have been called into question. After completing the project, it took Spurlock 14 months to return to his normal weight of pounds 84 kg.
