The Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock has passed away. He was 53.
According to Variety, Spurlock passed away on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in upstate New York at the age of 53 due to complications of cancer.
“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” said Craig Spurlock, Morgan’s brother. “Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity. Today the world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
Morgan Spurlock was born on November 7, 1970, in Parkersburg, Wes, Virginia. Graduating from New York University in 1993, he began his professional career in Hollywood as an uncredited production assistant on 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway and a production assistant on 1994’s Léon: The Professional.
He went on to make 2004’s Super Size Me, a documentary that saw him eat nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 days. The documentary, which is still widely shown in some school’s health classes, grossed $22.2 million at the global box office off an estimated budget of $65,000. It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards.
Following Super Size Me, Spurlock went on to make a handful of other documentaries, including 2008’s Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, 2011’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, 2012’s Mansome, and more. He also made a sequel to Super Size Me, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, which was released in 2017.
In December 2017, Spurlock wrote a social media post related to the #MeToo movement where he confessed that he was “part of the problem.” Variety’s article reads, “In the post, he admitted to serial infidelities and said he had settled an allegation of sexual harassment from a former assistant. He also said he had been accused of rape in college.” He resigned from his position at Warrior Poets, the production company he founded in 2004, and didn’t make any other films after that.
Spurlock is survived by two children, Laken and Kallen; his mother, Phyllis Spurlock; his father, Ben; brothers, Craig and Barry; multiple nieces and nephews; and former spouses, Alexandra Jamieson and Sara Bernstein.
ComingSoon sends condolences to Spurlock’s family and friends at this time.
