Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
maker,
humorist,
television producer
A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...
,
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
and
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
.
Spurlock's films include ''
Super Size Me'' (2004), ''
Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?'' (2008), ''
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'' (2011), ''
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope'' (2011), ''
One Direction: This Is Us'' (2013) and ''
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!'' (2017). He was the executive producer and star of the reality television series ''
30 Days'' (2005–2008). In June 2013, Spurlock became host and producer of the
CNN show ''
Morgan Spurlock Inside Man'' (2013–2016). He is also the co-founder of short-film
content marketing company Cinelan, which produced the
Focus Forward campaign for GE.
Biography
Early life
Morgan Valentine Spurlock was born on November 7, 1970 in
Parkersburg, West Virginia,
and was raised in
Beckley, West Virginia. His parents, Ben and Phyllis Spurlock, raised him as a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
. He has said he is of
Scots-Irish and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
descent.
Education
Spurlock was educated at
Woodrow Wilson High School, a public high school in the city of
Beckley, West Virginia
Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus.
...
. He graduated with a
BFA in film from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
's
Tisch School of the Arts in 1993. He is a member of the fraternity
Phi Gamma Delta
Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Washington & Jefferson College, Jefferson C ...
.
Later life
Before making the 2004
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-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
''I Bet You Will'' is an Internet webcast, and later a show on MTV that paid people to do outrageous things for money. In 2008, reruns of the program began to air on Spike. It was created by Morgan Spurlock. The show was hosted by Spurlock, musi ...
'' for
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. ''I Bet You Will'' began as a popular Internet webcast of five-minute episodes featuring ordinary people doing stunts in exchange for money. Examples include eating a full jar of mayonnaise (US$235), eating a "worm burrito" (US$265), and taking shots of
corn oil
Corn oil (North American) or maize oil (British) is oil extracted from the germ of corn (maize). Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil. It is also a key ingredient in some margar ...
,
Pepto-Bismol,
lemon juice,
hot sauce
Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.
History
Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of ye ...
, cold chicken broth, and
cod liver oil
Cod liver oil is a dietary supplement derived from liver of cod fish (Gadidae). As with most fish oils, it contains the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and also vitamin A and vitamin D. Histori ...
(US$450.00 for all nine shots). The webcast was a success, with over a million hits in the first five days. MTV later bought and aired the show, which Spurlock hosted. The list of documentary films that inspired Spurlock includes ''
Brother's Keeper'', ''
Hoop Dreams'', ''
The Thin Blue Line'', ''
Roger and Me
''Roger & Me'' is a 1989 American documentary film written, produced, directed by, and starring Michael Moore, in his directorial debut. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's action of closing several a ...
'', ''
Harlan County USA'', and ''
The Last Waltz
''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...
''. He considers ''
Brother's Keeper'' the greatest documentary of all time.
In 2008, he signed a deal with Fox Television Studios.
While attending a screening of the movie ''
Catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...
'', Spurlock approached the film's producers afterwards and called ''Catfish'' "the best fake documentary" he had ever seen.
In 2017, Spurlock stepped down from his production company after admitting to having committed sexual misconduct in his past, including cheating on his past wives and girlfriends as well as settling a sexual harassment allegation.
Film
''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 the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...
and Spurlock won the first
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. He conceived the idea for the film when he was at his parent's house for Thanksgiving, and while watching TV saw a news story about a lawsuit brought against McDonald's 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
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
meals a day every day (and nothing else) for 30 days. The film's title derives from one of the rules of Spurlock's experiment: he would not refuse the "super-size" option whenever it was offered to him but would never ask for it himself. The result, according to Spurlock, was a diet with twice the
calories
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of ...
recommended by the USDA. Further, Spurlock attempted to curtail his physical activity to match the exercise habits better of the average American (he previously walked about 5 kilometers\3 miles a day, whereas the average American walks 2 kilometers\1.5 miles).
In his reply documentary ''
Fat Head
''Fat Head'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by and starring comedian and health writer Tom Naughton. The film seeks to refute both the documentary ''Super Size Me'' and the lipid hypothesis, a theory of nutrition started in the earl ...
'', Tom Naughton "suggests that Spurlock's calorie and fat counts don't add up" and noted Spurlock's refusal to publish the ''Super Size Me'' food log. The ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
'' reports: "Unlike Spurlock, Naughton has a page on his Web site that lists every item (including nutritional information) he ate during his fast-food month."
He was of above average health and fitness when he started the project; he gained 25 pounds (11 kg), became quite puffy, and suffered
liver
The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it i ...
dysfunction and depression by the end. Spurlock's supervising physicians noted the effects caused by his high-calorie diet—once even comparing it to a case of severe binge alcoholism. Following Spurlock's December 2017 assertion that he hadn't been "sober for more than a week" in three decades, the claims of his liver dysfunction being caused by eating McDonald's food solely for 30 days have been called into question.
After completing the project, it took Spurlock fourteen months to return to his normal weight of 185 pounds (84 kg). His then-girlfriend (now ex-wife),
Alexandra Jamieson, took charge of his recovery with her "
detox diet", which became the basis for her book, ''The Great American Detox Diet''.
Spurlock released a sequel film, ''
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!'', in 2017,
["Toronto Film Review: 'Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!'"]
'' Variety'', September 14, 2017. to be distributed by
YouTube Red, but was dropped since Spurlock's admission of sexual misconduct.
Samuel Goldwyn Films distributed the film, instead, in September 2019.
Subsequent films
Spurlock's second feature documentary, ''
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?'' premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
in January 2008. 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.
Spurlock directed ''
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!''.
''
Freakonomics'' is an adaptation of the
book of the same name by
Steven D. Levitt
Steven David Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is an American economist and co-author of the best-selling book ''Freakonomics'' and its sequels (along with Stephen J. Dubner). Levitt was the winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal for his work in the ...
and
Stephen J. Dubner, which premiered in April 2010. Spurlock was at the helm of this project alongside five directors (
Heidi Ewing,
Rachel Grady,
Alex Gibney
Philip Alexander Gibney (; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, ''Esquire'' magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time".
Gibney's works as director include '' ...
,
Seth Gordon and
Eugene Jarecki).
The one-hour documentary ''Committed: The Toronto International Film Festival'' premiered on
AMC on 12 October 2010.
''
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
''POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'' is a 2011 documentary film about product placement, marketing and advertising directed by Morgan Spurlock. The premise behind the production is that the documentary itself would be entirely ...
'' is a 2011 documentary film about product placement, marketing and advertising which was reportedly itself financed through product placement.
[A video of Spurlock talking about ''The Greatest Movie Ever Sold''](_blank)
at TED ''The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'' was shown at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. It was released in the US in April 2011. It screened in the New Zealand Film Festival in August 2011 together with an appearance by Spurlock to talk about the movie.
In mid-2010, Spurlock worked with ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' creator
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television serie ...
,
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...
founder
Harry Knowles, and comic book creator
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...
to create the documentary ''
Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan's Hope'', to cover the stories of convention fans. Whedon, Lee, and Knowles served as executive producers. Legendary Pictures' Thomas Tull, who independently financed the documentary, told ''Variety'', "We look forward to capturing the spirit, energy and people that Comic-Con has infused into legions of fans, bringing these audiences and projects out of the halls and onto a world stage." On April 6, 2012, Spurlock released the film to selected theaters in the United States, as well as
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
outlets.
Spurlock hosted and produced the
CNN series ''
Morgan Spurlock Inside Man'', which aired from June 2013 to August 2016.
Spurlock helped distribute ''
A Brony Tale'', a documentary directed by
Brent Hodge
Brent Hodge (born July 9, 1985) is a Canadian-New Zealander documentary filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known for his documentaries '' I Am Chris Farley'', ''A Brony Tale'', '' The Pistol Shrimps'', ''Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary'',' ...
on the
brony
''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' is an animated television series produced by Hasbro as part of the ''My Little Pony'' toy franchise, which is tied in with the My Little Pony (2010 toyline), 2010 relaunch of dolls and play sets and orig ...
phenomenon and on the musician and voice acting career of
Ashleigh Ball. The film was selected for theatrical distribution under the label Morgan Spurlock Presents. The film had a July 8, 2014 theater release.
Spurlock teamed up with Hodgee Films again on the 2015 series ''
Consider the Source
Consider the Source is an American instrumental trio from New York City. Formed in 2004, the group has released six studio albums, four live albums, and one compilation. They have toured extensively across the United States, Israel, Turkey, and ...
'', in association with
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's
Maker Studios.
''30 Days''
In each episode, a person (sometimes Spurlock himself) or a group of people spend 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
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, Ohio, earning
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...
, with no access to outside funds.
In the second-season finale, Spurlock spent 25 days locked in a
Henrico County, Virginia (a county outside of
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
), jail to experience life as an inmate.
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
"Spurlock to go behind bars"
June 13, 2006. 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.
The third season of ''30 Days'' premiered on June 3, 2008. The first episode of the third season, titled "Working in a Coal Mine", was filmed in Bolt, West Virginia, which is located roughly from the city of
Beckley, West Virginia, where Spurlock was raised before leaving for New York.
In late 2008, FX announced it would not renew the ''30 Days'' series, making the third season the last.
Other work
* Spurlock optioned the rights for
Chris Mooney's book ''
The Republican War on Science
''The Republican War on Science'' is a 2005 book by Chris Mooney, an American journalist who focuses on the politics of science policy. In the book, Mooney discusses the Republican Party leadership's stance on science, and in particular that o ...
'' in order to create another documentary film, but released the option in 2008.
* Spurlock has a role in the film ''
Drive Thru'', a horror film about a fictional fast food restaurant that has its mascot come to life and start killing people. It was released on DVD on May 29, 2007.
* Spurlock presented ''
50 Documentaries to See Before You Die
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...
'' on
Current TV
Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smal ...
. The show premiered on August 1, 2011.
* On May 28, 2011, Spurlock was the graduation commencement speaker for the MBA Business program at Sonoma State University.
* Spurlock's half-hour documentary series ''
A Day in the Life'' was to debut on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
in mid-August 2011. It follows "incredibly focused" people such as
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed ...
and
will.i.am for a full day. The series is exclusive to Hulu.
* Spurlock directed an additional episode of ESPN's ''
30 for 30
''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...
'' sports documentary series, entitled "The Dotted Line". This documentary takes a look at the competitive world of
sports agents. "The Dotted Line" premiered on ESPN October 11, 2011, one day following the premiere of a two-hour documentary, ''I, Caveman,'' created and directed by Spurlock for the Science Channel series ''
Curiosity
Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human ...
''. In it, a group of men and women including Spurlock try to survive in the wild using only Stone Age technology.
*In 2011, Spurlock presented a Ted talk called "The greatest Ted talk ever sold".
* Spurlock is the presenter of a new show in the UK on
Sky Atlantic entitled ''
Morgan Spurlock's New Britannia''. The show is a comedy based around the differences between the UK and the US.
* Spurlock contributed a brief Foreword to Martin Lindstrom's 2011 book ''Brandwashed''.
* Spurlock's documentary ''
Mansome
''Mansome'' is a 2012 documentary film directed by Morgan Spurlock, and executive-produced by actors/comedians Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, and Electus founder Ben Silverman.
Themes
''Mansome'' looks at male identity as it is expressed through ...
'' was announced on March 8, 2012 as a Spotlight selection for the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
. The film takes a comedic look at male identity as defined through men's grooming habits featuring celebrity and expert commentary.
* Spurlock directed the 3D
concert film ''
One Direction: This Is Us'', starring the English-Irish boy band
One Direction
One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the g ...
, and released August 30, 2013 by
TriStar Pictures.
* Spurlock wrote a book in 2005 as a follow-up to ''Super Size Me'' entitled ''Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America''.
* Spurlock has a chapter giving advice in
Tim Ferriss' book ''
Tools of Titans''.
Personal life
Spurlock has two sons. The older, Laken James Spurlock, was 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. The younger, Kallen Marcus Spurlock, was born on May 22, 2016.
Although Spurlock was raised
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
, he stated in an interview with
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corporat ...
in 2014 that he is now
agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...
.
Sexual misconduct incidents
In December 2017, Spurlock wrote a blog post admitting to a history of sexual misconduct.
After publishing his blog post, he stepped down from his position with Warrior Poets, a company he had founded in 2004.
In October 2022, ''The Washington Post'' reported that Spurlock had "suffered career death" as a result of his misconduct.
Bibliography
*
*
*
Filmography
Films
Television
References
External links
*
*
"10 Questions for Morgan Spurlock"at ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
''
Morgan Spurlock judged The Film of the Month competition in February 2009 on the independent filmmakers networking site Shooting People.Morgan Spurlock talks The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Sundance 2011 – interviewconducted by
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
Theodora & Callum Interview with Morgan Spurlock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurlock, Morgan
1970 births
Film directors from West Virginia
Film directors from New York (state)
American agnostics
American former Protestants
American people of English descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American documentary film directors
Former Methodists
Living people
People from Beckley, West Virginia
People from Parkersburg, West Virginia
Businesspeople from New York City
Sundance Film Festival award winners
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley, West Virginia) alumni
Writers from New York City
Writers from West Virginia
Writers Guild of America Award winners
Film directors from New York City