MORGAN SPURLOCK

Supersize Me

April 18, 2005 at 7:30pm · Mountainlair Ballroom

Morgan Spurlock is the award-winning writer, director, and producer of Supersize Me, a feature film that explores the obesity epidemic in America. For his efforts, he was honored with the Best Director award in Documentary Competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination in February 2005 for Best Documentary Feature.

As the lead character in Supersize Me, Spurlock subjected himself to a grueling, 30-day "McDonald’s Only" diet and documented the impact on his health. Scores of cheeseburgers, hundreds of fries and dozens of chocolate shakes later, the formerly healthy 6-foot-2-inch New Yorker—who started out at 185 pounds—had packed on 25 pounds. But the supersized shape was the least of his problems. Within a few days of beginning his drive-through diet, Spurlock, 33, was vomiting out the window of his car, and doctors who examined him were shocked at how rapidly his entire body deteriorated. His liver became toxic, his cholesterol shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido flagged, and he suffered headaches and depression.

As well as documenting his own burger-fueled bulk-up, Spurlock travels to 20 cities across America, interviewing people on the street, health experts and a lobbyist for the fast-food industry.

Morgan Spurlock is a native of West Virginia and the founder of The Con, a New York-based production company that develops original programming for both film and television.

A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Spurlock has conceived and created more than 60 projects during his 12 years in the industry. From commercials to music videos to television shows, Spurlock has had the privilege of working on both sides of the camera with such companies as MTV, ESPN, NBC, FOX, TNT, VH-1, Sony, and MCA Records.

In 1999, Spurlock’s full-length play, The Phoenix, won the Audience Favorite Award at the New York International Fringe Festival. He subsequently picked up Best Play honors at the Route 66 American Playwrighting Competition in January 2000.

Also in 2000, Spurlock’s corporate image piece for the Sony Corporation, "Do You Dream in Sony?", won awards at the Chicago Film Festival (Corporate Production) and the U.S. Film and Video Festival (top Multi-Image Production).