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NEW YORK, NY, USA - When Morgan Spurlock spoke about his Oscar nominated documentary, "Super Size Me," he was in a rather plush downtown New York Soho conference room. Though that didn't seem like the environment for a gonzo guerilla documentarian who made a film taking to task a beloved corporate giant like McDonald's, Spurlock backs his funny take with research and a thought-out point of view. While it took him 14 months to lose the 25 pounds he gained eating only at McDonald's, he's gained a lot more in the months since the movie came out -- including this nomination.
G21: How long did you plan this idea before you did it?
Morgan Spurlock: Six weeks. I got the idea Thanksgiving 2002 and by mid-January we were shooting. The way it took off is awe-inspiring. Its one of those things where I [am] completely humble by what's happened. It's so gratifying. I'm speechless half the time. I have to take a step back from time to time and be like "This is really going on!"
G21: How much editing time did you have?
Morgan Spurlock: It took us six months to edit the whole thing. We shot over 250 hours of footage. We were still doing pickup interviews after a month. Cause you can't pack everything into 30 days.
G21: Why did you put yourself in as a character?
Morgan Spurlock: Some people say, "Why didn't you get someone [else] to do this?" But I couldn't ask someone to do something I wouldn't do myself. My bigger fear was that I would ask somebody else to do it and then the minute the cameras aren't rolling he's sneaking asparagus on the side and broccoli. (Laughs) I knew I wouldn't falter or waiver from the commitments.
G21: Did people think that you weren't being balanced in your criticisms?
Morgan Spurlock: There have been people who criticize [the film] both ways. You know people who were pure corporatists who thought I was just attacking McDonald's. Most people who criticize the film haven't seen the film. Most people [who did] had said that they thought it was very fair and balanced.
G21: Do you think McDonald's is doing anything right?
Morgan Spurlock: Well they are doing away with the super size, which I think is a good thing. But Mc Donald's in hospitals, I think, is a terrible thing. For every step forward they take a step back.
G21: What do you think about Wal-Mart?
Morgan Spurlock: It is so big and it just comes into towns and destroys. The towns just get eliminated. Every other small business gets eliminated. It's the same way with fast food chains. The mom and pop places get shut down because people go to the McDonald's and Burger Kings.
G21: Are you worried that McDonald's doesn't put a hit squad out for you?
Morgan Spurlock: (Laughs) You mean like a clown following me around in a trench coat? (Laughs) It's going to be like Tonya Harding all over again.
G21: Have you sworn off red meat after this?
Morgan Spurlock: Are you kidding me? I just had a burger two days ago! A good burger. If I want a good burger I don't go to McDonald's. I go to a burger joint.
G21: But probably all red meat is bad for you.
Morgan Spurlock: I eat a good burger probably once a month. In the past week I had a steak and a burger. So I won't have either of those for another month. I love Pinks. It a hotdog place in LA open 24 hours with a line all the way down the block. It's great.
G21: How far do you think you can milk this situation?
Morgan Spurlock: When you make a movie like this, any time you make a movie that really opens up a door to change, I think you do have an obligation to see it through for a while. For me to be able to go out and I can actually get this movie to PTAs and students and teachers I think is really important.
G21: How do you top a movie like this? What do you do next?
Morgan Spurlock: I don't know. There's a lot of things we're talking about now so we just have to see what happens. I think that this is such a special thing. There's a couple documentaries that I wanna do that will take a couple of years but I'd rather direct a comedy script before I do another documentary again.
G21: At the time you moved into this office, what were you doing?
Morgan Spurlock: We had a show on MTV called "I Bet You Will" which was a show we created online, the first show to go from the web to television. We did 53 episodes for the network and they canceled that show in October 2002 so we still had a little money. I wanted to make a low budget feature from a play I wrote in 1999 called "The Phoenix" that won the Fringe festival here in the city. So I had just finished the adaptation of that play into a screenplay.
So that's what I wanted to do, but I had seen that too much already. So then I got the idea for this movie and it was like lightning in a bottle. I went running through the house and called Scot Ambrozy the DP. I told him the idea and he said, "That's a really great bad idea." It's so funny cause there are these people out now that are funded by these lobby groups in DC. There is this one woman who is doing her own diet by going to Mc Donald's to eat healthy and lose weight. So for like a month she went to Mc Donald's and got a salad and water and exercising and says "I'm losing weight!" And its like "No shit. You're eating less. What do you expect?"
G21: Does it worry you that you came out so strong in the beginning of your career?
Morgan Spurlock: Well the great thing is for years we've been struggling with the production company. Two years ago after September 11th -- right before we sold the show to MTV -- September 11th happened we had no money. I maxed out all my credit cards to pay for my employees to pay rent. I slept in a hammock in my office for three months. Then finally we got thrown into TV and I was a couple hundred grand in debt going into this. So now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can actually see the light. We had been working so long we had so much other stuff we'd been developing.
G21: Have you ever been offered to do "Saturday Night Live"?
Morgan Spurlock: No because the season is over and if it would have lasted a couple more weeks it would have been amazing.
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