Morgan Spurlock, the award-winning filmmaker who starred in and directed the documentary “Super Size Me,” has died after cancer complications.
His family made the announcement last week, one day after he passed on Thursday. He was 53 years old.
In a statement released last Friday, the director’s brother Craig Spurlock said:
“Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man.”
Spurlock, an alum of New York University created and directed multiple films, but his most famous one was the 2004 documentary hit. Called “Super Size Me,” it followed Spurlock as he decided to eat only food from fast food giant McDonalds for 30 days.
For all three of his meals every day, Spurlock only ate from McDonalds. The film got its title because the one rule that he had was that if he was ever asked if he wanted to “super size” his meal, he would have to say yes.
“Super sizing” a meal meant that you would get an extra large soda and extra large serving of french fries. McDonald’s ceased offering the super size promotion not long after the documentary.
Through the length of the 30 days, Spurlock visited multiple doctors and documented the effects it was having on his physical and psychological health. Viewers all over the world could see for their own eyes just how radically his fast-foot “diet” was affecting him in a negative way.
Spurlock followed that film up with “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” in 2017, which was his final documentary.
In that documentary, he explored how the fast food industry as a whole tried to rebrand itself under a healthier guise following his initial film. In doing so, he opened up a fast food restaurant of his own that served fried chicken as a way to expose the marketing tactics that restaurants in the sector have been using in the 12 years since his first documentary was released.
As he said during a “Nightline” interview before the sequel was released:
“The goal of Holy Chicken is how do you at least start to level the playing field. The way that I think we’ll beat [competitors] is, can you create a truly farm-to-table localized fast food restaurant.”
Following his death, his ex-wife Sara Bernstein posted a remembrance on Instagram. The couple, who wed in 2016, finalized their divorce only a few months ago.
In that social media post, Bernstein wrote:
“Thank you for all the love and support the past few days. We so appreciate it. As Kallen to me, Morgan was the best daddy ever and we will love and miss him forever and ever.’”
Bernstein was referring to her son Kallen, 8, who she shared with Spurlock.
The director also has another son, Laken, 17, who he shared with his first wife, Alexandra Jamieson.
