Morgan Spurlock
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| Morgan Spurlock | |
 Spurlock at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
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| Born | Morgan Valentine Spurlock November 7, 1970 Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA |
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| Residence | New York City, New York, USA |
| Alma mater | NYU's Tisch School of the Arts |
| Occupation | Independent documentary film director, TV producer, and screenwriter |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Home town | Beckley, West Virginia, USA |
| Religious beliefs | Methodist |
Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an Academy Award-nominated American documentary filmmaker, television producer and screenwriter, best known for the documentary film Super Size Me, in which he demonstrated the health effects of McDonald's food by eating nothing but McDonalds three times a day, every day, for 30 days. Spurlock is also the executive producer and star of the reality television series 30 Days.
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[edit] Career
Spurlock attended Woodrow Wilson High School, graduating in 1989. He graduated with a BFA in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1993. Before making the 2004 Academy Award nominated Super Size Me, Spurlock was a playwright, winning awards for his play The Phoenix at both the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000. He also created I Bet You Will for MTV. I Bet You Will began as a popular Internet webcast of five-minute episodes featuring ordinary people doing disgusting, unusual, or embarrassing stunts in exchange for money. Examples include eating a full jar of mayonnaise ($235USD), eating a "worm burrito" ($265USD), and taking shots of corn oil, Pepto-Bismol, lemon juice, hot sauce, cold chicken broth, and cod liver oil ($450USD for all nine shots). The webcast was a success, with over a million hits in the first five days. The show was later bought and aired by MTV.
[edit] Film
[edit] Super Size Me
Spurlock's docudrama Super Size Me was released in the U.S. on May 7, 2004. This production was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary feature. 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 McDonalds by two teenage girls who blamed the fast food chain for their obesity. The film depicts an experiment he conducted in 2003, in which he ate three McDonald's meals a day every day (and nothing else) for 30 days, mandatory that he take the "super-size" option whenever it was offered, the end result being a diet with twice the calories recommended by the USDA. Further, Spurlock attempted to curtail his physical activity to better match the exercise habits of the average American (he previously walked about 3 miles a day whereas the average American walks 1.5 miles).
He was of above-average health and fitness when he started the project; he gained 25 pounds (11 kg), suffered liver dysfunction and depression. Spurlock's supervising physicians noted the effects caused by his high-fat diet—one even comparing it to a case of severe binge alcoholism.
After the completion of the project, it took Spurlock fourteen months to return to his normal weight of 185 pounds (84 kg). His then-girlfriend (now wife), Alexandra Jamieson, took charge of his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book The Great American Detox Diet.[1]
[edit] Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?
Spurlock's second feature documentary, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008. The film is dedicated to Spurlock's infant son, Laken.
In the film, and in interviews, Spurlock explores the fight against terrorism and views the argument from both sides, in which he tries to find Osama Bin Laden.
Unlike his previous documentary Super Size Me, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? received mostly negative reviews.
[edit] Freakonomics
Spurlock's next film will be an adaptation of the book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Spurlock will be helming this project alongside of four directors (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Alex Gibney and Eugene Jarecki).[2]
[edit] 30 Days
Spurlock's television project since 2005 has been 30 Days. In each episode, a person (which in some cases, is Spurlock himself) spends 30 days immersing themselves in a mode of life markedly different from their norm (being in prison, a devout Christian living in a Muslim family, a homophobe staying with a homosexual person, etc.), while Spurlock discusses the relevant social issues involved. FX began airing the show on June 15, 2005. In the premiere episode of the first season, "Minimum Wage," Spurlock and his fiancée lived for 30 days in the Bottoms neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, earning minimum wage, with no access to outside funds.
In the second season finale, Spurlock spent 25 days locked in a Henrico County, Virginia (a suburb of Richmond) jail to experience life as an inmate.[3] He did not complete the entire 30 days in jail because the majority of inmates in the state of Virginia serve 85% of the sentence, so once Spurlock reached that benchmark, he was released.[4]
The third season of 30 Days premiered on June 3, 2008.[5] The first episode of the third season, titled "Working in a Coal Mine" was filmed in Bolt, West Virginia which is located roughly 18 miles from the city of Beckley, West Virginia, where Spurlock was raised prior to leaving for New York.[6]
In late 2008, FX announced they would not be renewing the 30 Days series, making the third season the last.
[edit] Other work
- Spurlock optioned the rights for Chris Mooney's book The Republican War on Science in order to create another documentary film[7], but in 2008 announced that he had released the option[8].
- Spurlock has a role in the film Drive Thru, about a fast food restaurant that has its mascot come to life and start killing people.[9] It was released on DVD on May 29, 2007.
[edit] Personal life
Spurlock was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Beckley, West Virginia as a Methodist.[10] He went to New York University and graduated in 1993 and was a member of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta[11]. He currently lives in New York City. He married long-time girlfriend vegan chef Alexandra Jamieson on May 3, 2006. [12] They have a son, Laken James Spurlock, born on December 9, 2006. His birth is depicted in Spurlock's documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, which Spurlock dedicated to Laken.
Morgan Spurlock has donated more than $5,000 to Democratic campaigns and committees, most going to the presidential campaign of President Barack Obama. [13]
[edit] Bibliography
- Morgan Spurlock (2005). Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-15260-1.
[edit] References
- ^ Great American Detox Diet on Amazon.com
- ^ Freakonomics (2009) Directors - Full cast and crew - IMDb.com, Inc.
- ^ Associated Press, "Spurlock to go behind bars". June 13, 2006.
- ^ FX "Thirty Days: Season 2 on the FX Network, Season Finale Episode.
- ^ Capone With Morgan Spurlock About WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? And More!!, www.aintitcool.com, April 18, 2008
- ^ "Spurlock Supersizes West Virginia On The Map".
- ^ Spurlock filming "The Republican War on Science
- ^ The Intersection
- ^ Spurlock in Drive Thru
- ^ Morgan Spurlock on Islam
- ^ "The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta"
- ^ Alexandra Jamieson's Website
- ^ Morgan Spurlock's Federal Campaign Contribution Report - NEWSMEAT
[edit] External links
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