‘Super Size Me’ Documentary Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock Dies at 53

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee whose most famous work skewered American food and diets and who notably ate only at McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.​

​Spurlock died Thursday in New York from complications of cancer, according to a statement issued Friday by his family.​

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​“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” Craig Spurlock, who worked with him on several projects, said in the statement. “Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”​

​Spurlock made a splash in 2004 with his groundbreaking film Super Size Me, which was nominated for an Academy Award. The film chronicled the detrimental physical and psychological effects of Spurlock eating only McDonald’s food for 30 days. He gained about 25 pounds, saw a spike in his cholesterol and lost his sex drive.​

​“Everything’s bigger in America,” he said in the film. “We’ve got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and finally: the biggest people.”​

​In one scene, Spurlock showed kids a portrait of George Washington and none recognized the Founding Father. But they all knew the mascots for Wendy’s and McDonald’s.​

​He returned in 2019 with Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! — a sober look at an industry that processes 9 billion animals a year in America. He focused on two issues: chicken farmers stuck in a peculiar financial system and the attempt by fast-food chains to deceive customers into thinking they’re eating healthier.​

​“We’re at an amazing moment in history from a consumer standpoint where consumers are starting to have more and more power,” he told the Associated Press in 2019. “It’s not about return for the shareholders. It’s about return for the consumers.”​

​Spurlock was a gonzo-like filmmaker who leaned into the bizarre and ridiculous. His stylistic touches included zippy graphics and amusing music, blending a Michael Moore-ish camera-in-your-face style with his own sense of humor and pathos.​

Morgan Spurlock in 'Super Size Me.'

Collection Christophel/Alamy

​“I wanted to be able to lean into the serious moments. I wanted to be able to breathe in the moments of levity. We want to give you permission to laugh in the places where it’s really hard to laugh,” he told the AP.​

​After he exposed the fast-food and chicken industries, there was an explosion in restaurants stressing freshness, artisanal methods, farm-to-table goodness and ethically sourced ingredients. But nutritionally not much had changed.​