R.I.P. Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me documentarian

Morgan Spurlock, the documentarian most notable for the Oscar-nominated fast food documentary Super Size Me, has died, according to Deadline. The filmmaker “passed away peacefully in New York surrounded by family and friends” on Thursday due to complications of cancer, which he had been treating privately. He was 53 years old.

“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” the director’s brother and collaborator Craig Spurlock said in a 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 was known for gimmick-heavy unscripted film and television, in which he often featured heavily as the host or the subject. He captured the zeitgeist with his first feature-length documentary, 2004’s Super Size Me, in which he ate only McDonald’s food for a month and chronicled his resulting mental and physical health issues. The film was a response to the so-called obesity epidemic in the United States and the overwhelming popularity of fast food, and it became a sensation. Super Size Me was frequently used in health education programs and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. However, in the years after its release, critics have questioned the methodology of Spurlock’s experiment, many noting that Spurlock never published a food log to show what his actual intake during that period was. Additionally, Spurlock later revealed ongoing issues with alcohol abuse which could have impacted health problems that were attributed to his fast food diet.

Nevertheless, he went on to have a prolific career as a director and producer of documentary films and television, including Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, CNN’s Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, and Showtime’s 7 Deadly Sins. In a break from his typical style (which frequently put himself in front of the camera), he directed the 2013 film One Direction: This Is Us, which became one of the highest-grossing concert films of all time.

In 2017, Spurlock derailed his own career by confessing to sexual misconduct amid the burgeoning #MeToo movement. In a lengthy post shared to social media, he admitted that he’d been accused of rape in college after having sex while intoxicated, as well as having granted a settlement to a former employee who he’d verbally sexually harassed. He additionally claimed he’d cheated on “every wife and girlfriend” he’d ever had, and said he generally “consistently hurts those closest to me.” In the same statement, he revealed his struggles with alcohol and suffering sexual abuse when he was young.

Subsequently, Spurlock resigned from his production company Warrior Poets, and his next documentary, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! was pulled from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and temporarily dropped by YouTube Red, which had a deal to distribute the film. The movie, in which Spurlock opened his own fast-food restaurant to investigate the poultry industry, was eventually released in 2019. It would become the filmmaker’s final feature.

In a statement (via Deadline), his family said, “Spurlock fearlessly challenged modern conventions utilizing humor and wit to shed light on societal issues. His films inspired critical thinking and encouraged viewers to question the status quo. Over thirteen years, through his production company Warrior Poets, Spurlock found additional success producing and directing nearly 70 documentary films and television series.”

The statement continued, “He deeply valued the creative contributions of the talented people who worked on his projects, developing a cadre of freelance production professionals who came back time and again. A great lover of modern artists, Spurlock compiled an extensive art collection, which decorated the walls of his home and the Warrior Poets office in SoHo, New York.”

Spurlock is survived by two sons, Laken and Kallen; his mother Phyllis; his father Ben; brothers Craig and Barry; and former spouses Alexandra Jamieson and Sara Bernstein, the mothers of his children. Per Deadline, the family encouraged well-wishers to donate to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in New York City in his memory.