What happens when you eat only fast food for 30 days? US director Morgan Spurlock tried it two decades ago: for a month he only ate at McDonald’s. The resulting documentary film “Super Size Me” from 2004 became world famous.
Now Spurlock has died at the age of just 53 from the effects of cancer. Spurlock died on Thursday “peacefully surrounded by family and friends,” his family said. “The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man,” Spurlock’s brother Craig was quoted as saying.
Spurlock, born in 1970 in the US state of West Virginia, studied film in New York after school and wrote plays and series. He made his breakthrough in 2004 with the documentary “Super Size Me”, for which he won many awards. For a month, Spurlock ate at McDonald’s three times a day – cheeseburgers, fries, Coke, Big Macs or apple turnovers. One condition: if he was offered a particularly large portion – “Super Size” – he had to take it.
Spurlock admitted his own misconduct in light of the #MeToo reports
Spurlock wanted to use the filmic self-experiment to draw attention to the widespread obesity in the USA. In the end, he gained 12 kilograms in 30 days and also suffered from shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain and headaches. Doctors diagnosed Murlock with rising cholesterol and worsening liver values and even advised him to abandon the experiment.
Spurlock has not been able to build on the success of “Super Size Me” with numerous other films since then. In 2017, the director, who was married three times and had two children, withdrew from his production company after admitting his own misconduct in the face of #MeToo reports. “I am part of the problem,” Spurlock wrote in a statement at the time. “We should all find the courage to admit our mistakes.”