Hold the fries Morgan Spurlock, the man behind the film "Super Size Me," talks about eating nothing but McDonald's for 30 days straight and how he feels about Big Macs now.
- - - - - - - - - - - - By Scott Lamb
May 5, 2004 | As Morgan Spurlock tells it, the idea for the film "Super Size Me" came to him in 2002, during one of those quintessentially American moments: He was sitting on the couch, stuffed with Thanksgiving dinner, watching TV. On the evening news that night was a story about two teenage girls who, the previous August, had sued McDonald's (ultimately unsuccessfully) for making them fat. In its defense, McDonald's claimed its food could be eaten as "part of any balanced diet and lifestyle."
Spurlock was struck with inspiration -- what he calls "a really great bad idea" -- to make a documentary about living off nothing but McDonald's for 30 days, just to see if it could be done.
"Super Size Me," which opens nationwide on Friday, follows Spurlock from his pre-McDiet physical checkups -- he started out in perfect health, and consulted three doctors and a nutritionist throughout the month -- through the weight gain, vomiting, sexual dysfunction and depression brought on by his steady intake of Big Macs and fries. In between bites, the 33-year-old filmmaker traveled across the country, visiting schools and talking to nutrition experts, lawyers, schools, a gastric-bypass patient and Don Gorske -- a man who claims to have eaten over 19,000 Big Macs and have a healthy cholesterol level of 155.
The movie is less of an attack on McDonald's than it may seem; the occasional barrage of statistics is relieved by humor and gross-outs (a rectal exam, the McVomit scene). After all, the profits Spurlock used to finance "Super Size Me" came largely from his short-lived MTV show "I Bet You Will," in which he paid people to perform disgusting feats. But the film takes a darker turn as it becomes clear that Spurlock's "great bad idea" is having a truly bad effect on his health.
May 5, 2004 | As Morgan Spurlock tells it, the idea for the film "Super Size Me" came to him in 2002, during one of those quintessentially American moments: He was sitting on the couch, stuffed with Thanksgiving dinner, watching TV. On the evening news that night was a story about two teenage girls who, the previous August, had sued McDonald's (ultimately unsuccessfully) for making them fat. In its defense, McDonald's claimed its food could be eaten as "part of any balanced diet and lifestyle." 
