Following the death of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, fans are remembering perhaps his greatest on-screen achievement: Super Size Me.
Spurlock sadly died on Thursday (May 23) in New York following complications from cancer, according to a statement released by his family on Friday.
“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” said Craig Spurlock - who collaborated with him on numerous projects - in a statement via ABC News. “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.”
Although Spurlock spearheaded many unique and groundbreaking documentaries throughout his career, audiences perhaps best remember him for his 2004 Academy Award-nominated film, Super Size Me.
In the feature-length documentary, Spurlock attempts to highlight the dangers of people eating fast-food on a regular basis - so goes to the extreme lengths of eating nothing but McDonald's for a month.
“Everything’s bigger in America,” Spurlock says in the film. “We’ve got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and finally: the biggest people."
The rules? Morgan had to eat and drink products ONLY from McDonald's - including water.
He also had to eat everything on the menu at least once.
Spurlock also challenged himself to eat McDonald's for three meals per day - and if, at any time, staff asked him if he wanted to Super Size his meal, he had to say yes.
Over the course of the movie, we see Spurlock enjoying the experience like a little kid - until he finally becomes lethargic, miserable, and battling the side-effects of a high-fat, high-sugar diet.
By the end of the movie, Spurlock shared the results of his experiment - detailing the changes to his physical and mental health. Here's what he said: "After only 30 days of eating nothing but McDonald's, I gained 24.5lbs. My liver turned to fat and my cholesterol shot up 65 points.
"My body-fat percentage went from 11% to 18% [...] I nearly doubled my risk of coronary heart disease, making myself twice as likely to have heart failure.
"I felt depressed and exhausted most of the time, my mood swung on a dime, and my sex life was non-existent.
"I craved this food more and more when I ate it, and got massive headaches when I didn't. And in my final blood test, many of my body functions showed signs of improvement - but the doctors were less than optimistic."
However, one detail that Spurlock left out of the documentary was his battle with alcohol addiction. In fact, he later admitted that he had also been drinking throughout the experiment.
Per the Daily Mail, Spurlock revealed in 2017 that he had been "consistently been drinking since the age of 13" - adding: "I haven't been sober for more than a week in 30 years."
The revelation led to some people questioning the if his drinking had caused damage to his liver as detailed in the doc, and whether or not his involuntary shakes were symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
Spurlock's admission also contradicted the moment at the start of the film when a doctor asks him: "Any alcohol use?" To which, Spurlock replies: "Now? None."
Given the international success of the movie - with Spurlock going on to win the award for Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival and McDonald's even pulling their Super Size option from their menus - one would have to assume that Spurlock wouldn't have received the acclaim he did if his heavy drinking was made apparent.
In 2017, Spurlock attended rehab for alcoholism after speaking out about his own actions and behaviors amid the MeToo Movement, for which he said he was "part of the problem".
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