Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of the 2004 McDonald’s documentary Super Size Me, has died aged 53.
The news was shared by the filmmaker’s family, who said he died “peacefully” on Thursday (May 23) “surrounded by family and friends in New York from complications of cancer”.
In a statement, Spurlock’s brother Craig said (via The Guardian): “It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan. Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
Spurlock received an Oscar nomination for Super Size Me, which explored the spread of obesity in America and the effects of fast food on society.
For the documentary, Spurlock claimed to eat McDonald’s three times a day for a month, examining the drastic physical and psychological effects this had on his health. Over the course of the 30-day period, the filmmaker ate 90 meals at the fast food chain, which he said amounted to what an average person might eat in eight years.
Following the film’s release, Super Size Me prompted worldwide debate, with many questioning the truthfulness of Spurlock’s claims.
Inspired by his own documentary, he later created 30 Days, an FX reality series that saw participants immerse themselves in a lifestyle vastly different from their own for a whole month.
In 2017, Spurlock released a sequel to his hit documentary, titled Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, which examined the ways the fast food industry has rebranded itself as healthier since the first film.
In addition to Super Size Me 1 and 2, Spurlock directed Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (2008) and the One Direction documentary This Is Us (2013).
The documentarian had one son with his third wife Sara Bernstein, whom he married in 2016, and another son from a previous marriage.
In 2017, the filmmaker admitted to a history of sexual misconduct and subsequently stepped down from his production company Warrior Poets.