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.

Salon spoke to Spurlock in the offices of his production company in New York.

Part of the film is devoted to your attempt to get a statement from McDonald's about the movie. Has anyone from the company contacted you yet?

They wouldn't talk to me. I think their thoughts were this was just going to be a little movie that would disappear, and it hasn't. The movie premiered at Sundance, and they said the movie was a supersized distortion, that it was a gimmick, and then six weeks later they announced they were eliminating supersize options from their menu -- and that it had nothing whatsoever to do with this film. Then just a few weeks ago they announced they're coming out with their "Go Active" adult happy meals on May 6. And when does the movie open? May 7. So there's definitely damage control going on.

The subject of the movie is, really, your body -- you gained a lot of weight, your liver was damaged, possibly permanently. How are you feeling? Has it changed how you eat?

I'm much better now. It took me 14 months to lose the weight completely. I pay so much attention to what I eat now because after I gained that weight, I can put it on again just like that. I talked to a doctor -- a friend of mine -- and he said, "Now that you've put on that weight, those fat cells are still in your body, wanting to do what fat cells do, which is store energy. Now whenever you overeat, if your body doesn't use those calories, your body is going to store it."

How did you feel about your girlfriend talking about your sex life?

Next page: What about the woman who ate nothing but McDonald's and lost weight?