Morgan Spurlock, the creator of the documentary “Super Size Me,” died Thursday at the age of 53.
The documentary filmmaker, who was nominated for an Oscar for his 2004 feature film where he chronicled the consequences of eating McDonald’s every day for a month, died Thursday of complications from cancer.
During the making of the movie, Spurlock only ate food from McDonald’s for 30 days. He exercised less during that stretch to mimic the average activity of Americans. Afterward, Spurlock said he suffered from liver dysfunction and had gained 25 pounds.
Craig Spurlock, Morgan’s brother, said the world lost a “genius” in comments memorializing his death.
“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” Craig Spurlock said in a statement to multiple outlets. “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’s 2004 social experiment prompted nationwide conversations surrounding fast food’s poor nutrition. The movie brought in more than $22 million at the box office.
“Everything’s bigger in America,” he said in the film at one point, according to The Associated Press. “We’ve got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and finally: the biggest people.”
He later released “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!”, a documentary that probed the chicken industry. Not all Spurlock films were about food.
Spurlock dealt with his own issues, admitting to being accused of rape and settling a sexual harassment case.
“For me, there was a moment of kind of realization — as somebody who is a truth-teller and somebody who has made it a point of trying to do what’s right — of recognizing that I could do better in my own life,” Spurlock told AP at the time. “We should be able to admit we were wrong.”