Morgan Spurlock

Morgan Spurlock (born 7.11.1970)

Morgan Spurlock is a US documentary film-maker, TV producer, journalist and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for the documentary Super Size Me.

Morgan Spurlock: Career

As a child, Morgan Spurlock attended Woodrow Wilson High School in West Virginia and graduated in 1989. IN 1993, he then graduated with a film degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Spurlock then enjoyed a spell as a successful playwright and won awards for his play The Phoenix. He then went on to create the series I Bet You Will, for the MTV channel. It was a light-hearted series of 5-minute programmes, featuring members of the public doing unusual or disgusting things for cash. It started out as a webcast and was so popular that MTV adopted the show.

In 2004, Morgan Spurlock released Super Size Me in the US. The film was then nominated for Best Documentary at that year's Academy Award. The idea for the documentary came when Spurlock watched a news story about two teenage girls suing McDonald's for causing their obesity. The documentary itself focuses on Spurlock eating nothing but three McDonalds meals a day for 30 days. When offered the 'Super Size Me' option, he would always take it, but not when it wasn't. When the 30 day trial was over, he had gained 25 pounds and was suffering from depression and liver dysfunction.

The next feature length documentary that Morgan Spurlock worked on was Where in the World is Obama Bin Laden. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. The documentary shows Spurlock's exploration of the fight against terrorism and tries to find Osama Bin Laden, whilst investigating numerous views of terrorism in the US and beyond.

The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3-D! On Ice! was the next project from Spurlock; a documentary that explored the cultural phenomenon of The Simpsons - the animated series created by Matt Groening.

Spurlock then went on to co-direct Freakonomics, a documentary based on the popular book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner.

In 2010, Morgan Spurlock worked alongside Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, Harry Knowles and Stan Lee, to create a documentary about the Comic-Con convention. The film was entitled Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan's Hope and looked at the stories of the convention's fans.

Spurlock then went on to make The Greatest Move Ever Sold, about product placement, marketing and advertising in the film world. In 30 Days, Spurlock (and others) spends 30 days at a time immersing themselves in a different way of life to their own. The series was split into episodes, with each episode focusing on a different way of life.