For months, it became, how do I get this thing that is the most valuable asset we have right now, out into the world. Thank goodness for Goldwyn, for Peter Goldwyn, who stepped up to say, we want to put this movie out. One after the other. So, that was a Wednesday when I wrote that essay. That show was gone by Thursday. What were the conversations like as you tried to plead your case and save those projects?
So we tried just to extricate me from the process. We even tried to just give the show to Pretty Matches so that they would just take it and make it.
Just based on the kind of baggage, that I was associated with it, from their point of view. And again, it was a hard conversation because we all love the movie.
They put themselves at risk helping you grow the chickens you used for your pop-up restaurant. And they were blacklisted by Big Chicken for helping you and appearing in the movie. What were those conversations like, telling them you lost distribution? I called the two of them on my way to rehab. On my way to get on the plane to go. And I was crying, and they were crying. Your essay dealt with a tangle of complex personal issues.
You talked about alcoholism and depression, you disclosed that you had been molested as a young person. Had you ever talked to anyone about that before? That was the thing, but that was part of it. I was self-medicating for a long time. A lot of this began I guess around like , It was even before that — Super Size Me came out in — but I think it just kind of amplified more as more started to happen.
Documentary makers especially back then mostly toil in anonymity. But your film made you a celebrity…. It continued to grow and amplify all the way up to , when I had this moment of clarity that I needed to change. I thought I was a social drinker; I would go out a couple times a week. But you go to a drinks meeting, into a dinner meeting, and then another drink meeting after that, and I would get to the point where I would make bad behavioral choices. And it was filled through those types of activities, so it was alcoholism, it was workaholism.
So it was literally just like, more, all the time. And it led to other choices. It was a place that was for dual diagnosis, also a place where I could go and for the first time in my life, have real open conversations about depression.
It was transformative for me. But for me, I came back and saw the world in a very different way, and saw my actions in a different way. I saw the way I wanted to live my life and treat people, the husband I wanted to be, the father I wanted to be, in a very different way. It hurts, a lot. How have they responded? There is still a lot of pain associated with it in many ways. I had just shot a daytime talk show pilot for a network that had been green lighted to move forward and go to market.
This is the first step in what Spurlock hopes is the second act of his career. Spurlock experienced overnight success 15 years ago thanks to his debut feature, "Super Size Me," and went on to become a heavyweight in the non-fiction world. With over 20 directing credits to his name, Spurlock also had a show on CNN and a slew of projects on the horizon, including a docuseries with LeBron James through Spurlock's Warrior Poets production company. That all disappeared on December 13, , when Spurlock tweeted the words "I am Part of the Problem.
According to Spurlock's letter, a woman had accused him of rape in college, he'd settled a workplace sexual harassment claim, and he'd been unfaithful to past wives and girlfriends. Spurlock's MeToo moment was a rare instance of someone admitting guilt despite having no public accusations made against him. Within days of the tweet, YouTube bailed on the distribution deal to release "Super Size Me 2," and Warrior Poets was no more, as were the other projects in the pipeline.
Some critics saw his confession as a carefully crafted way to get ahead of a MeToo story on him — " image rehabilitation disguised as a wrecking ball. Business Insider spoke with Spurlock about what led to his MeToo tweet, his surprise at the ramifications that followed, his stint in rehab for alcohol abuse, and his uncertain future.
Jason Guerrasio: It's kind of crazy that your movie world premiered two years ago but it is still relevant today, maybe even more so than then. Morgan Spurlock: It's fortunate because that's rarely the case. Sadly, the reason we're so fortunate is because the business is so fed up. The movie is still relevant because consumers are still getting lied to. They are still getting manipulated by corporations. Farmers are still getting forced into lives of indentured servitude by giant chicken corporations.
None of that has changed in two years. Guerrasio: But things have certainly changed for you in those two years. When we spoke back in , you were on the verge of signing a deal with YouTube to release "Super Size Me 2," and you had plans for a Holy Chicken food truck following the movie around the country. How did it get from that point to you writing that tweet three months later? Spurlock: Things were blowing up, the movie was about to go to Sundance, one of the few films that ever does the Toronto-to-Sundance rollout.
Then we were going to show it at Berlin and South by Southwest and then open it theatrically. Then everything imploded — YouTube Red stepping away from the deal, which was best because we probably would have just gotten thrown away in regards of a release.
So it was better for the film to sit on a shelf. Spurlock: No. The deal was signed and YouTube basically walked away, so I got it back and it was on a shelf for 18 months. Then within eight days of when I wrote what I wrote, I went from 65 employees to three, basically me and my brother and our accountant.
Every movie and TV project we had went away. The hardest part for me was I literally put so many people in my company out of work right before the holidays. It was right before Christmas. Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life.
The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked.
Spurlock treks across the country interviewing a host of experts on fast food and an equal number of regular folk while chowing down at the Golden Arches. Spurlock's grueling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac.
In , director Morgan Spurlock subjected himself to a diet based only in McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days and without working out. His objective was to prove why most of the Americans are so fat, with many cases of obesity. He began the shootings submitting himself to a complete check-up with three doctors, and along the weeks, he compared his weight and results of exams, coming through a scary conclusion.
Morris learned about what Spurlock did and the eventual backing out by YouTube through his attorneys. Muraskin learned about it through the news. All three men told Business Insider that Spurlock never contacted them before or after his tweet. They were so excited it was coming out. I hate to see that. Now that the waters have calmed I hope they would go ahead and move forward with showing the movie to the public.
The farmer told Business Insider he has tried numerous times to contact YouTube since the company announced it was pulling the movie. He wants to see if the site would be interested in selling the movie to him. It needs to be seen. Spurlock declined to comment for this story.
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