You could, rightly, characterize director Bryan Fogel’s Academy Award-winning documentary “Icarus” as the product of dumb luck. It began as one film — a “Super Size Me”-type concept whereby Fogel, a cycling enthusiast, attempted to expose the ease of illegal doping by injecting himself with steroids — that became an arresting investigation into Russia’s decades-long use of performance-enhancing drugs, with the colorful Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the country’s anti-doping laboratory, as the primary whistleblower. With Rodchenkov’s testimony, Fogel made the pervasive rot of Russian sports into an enthralling piece of storytelling.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
- 9/2/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
Nearly two years after documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock published a #MeToo mea culpa on Twitter that derailed his career and shuttered his 65-employee production company, he’s back this month with the release of his previously shelved sequel to “Super Size Me” and the launch of a pop-up chicken restaurant in New York City.
In an interview with Business Insider published on Thursday, Spurlock said he thought his Twitter confession in December 2017 showed the need for people implicated by #MeToo to “own up to their past and confidently move forward.”
In that much publicized confession, the filmmaker best known for “Super Size Me,” his seminal McDonald’s experiment, admitted to sexually harassing a female assistant of his and being unfaithful to every one of his romantic partners. He also described being accused of rape in college. “I am part of the problem,” he said.
Also Read: Morgan Spurlock Recalls Accuser...
In an interview with Business Insider published on Thursday, Spurlock said he thought his Twitter confession in December 2017 showed the need for people implicated by #MeToo to “own up to their past and confidently move forward.”
In that much publicized confession, the filmmaker best known for “Super Size Me,” his seminal McDonald’s experiment, admitted to sexually harassing a female assistant of his and being unfaithful to every one of his romantic partners. He also described being accused of rape in college. “I am part of the problem,” he said.
Also Read: Morgan Spurlock Recalls Accuser...
- 9/19/2019
- by J. Clara Chan
- The Wrap
If you think that fast food restaurants have any sort of “healthy” options, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is here to tell you the hard truth — that’s a bunch of bullshit. 13 years after making waves with his documentary “Super Size Me,” the director returns to take on the fast food corporations one more time in the upcoming sequel ‘Holy Chicken!’
As seen in the new trailer for ‘Super Size Me 2,’ Spurlock isn’t going back to his old ways and going on an all-fast food diet.
Continue reading ‘Super Size Me 2’ Trailer: Morgan Spurlock Aims To Create A 100% Honest Food Experience at The Playlist.
As seen in the new trailer for ‘Super Size Me 2,’ Spurlock isn’t going back to his old ways and going on an all-fast food diet.
Continue reading ‘Super Size Me 2’ Trailer: Morgan Spurlock Aims To Create A 100% Honest Food Experience at The Playlist.
- 7/15/2019
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Last September, prolific documentarian Morgan Spurlock debuted his latest offering — a somewhat secret followup to his career-making “Super Size Me,” entitled “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” — at the Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary sequel followed Spurlock as he took on the so-called “Big Chicken” industry by starting his own chicken sandwich shop as a way to expose the myriad ways the industry tricks its customers into thinking its poultry is “natural” or “free-range.” The film included not just eye-opening information about the poultry industry at large, but on-the-ground inside looks at the work of some of the farmers who are negatively impacted by the multimillion-dollar industry.
The film was a hit at the festival, bolstered by appreciative audiences and the gimmicky use of a food truck that doled out Spurlock’s own tasty “Holy Chicken” sandwiches. YouTube Red picked up the film — for both streaming and theatrical rights...
The film was a hit at the festival, bolstered by appreciative audiences and the gimmicky use of a food truck that doled out Spurlock’s own tasty “Holy Chicken” sandwiches. YouTube Red picked up the film — for both streaming and theatrical rights...
- 6/26/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
People often don’t know what’s good for them. Most of the time, the disconnect can be attributed to a lack of perspective — give someone a short-term solution, and they’ll happily create a long-term problem. It’s a phenomenon of human nature that capitalism has been all too happy to exploit, and thanks to recent “advances” in factory farming, the world is now literally eating itself to death.
So goes the premise of Christopher Quinn’s “Eating Animals,” an urgent but uncertain documentary that amplifies and expounds upon the argument Jonathan Safran Foer laid out in his 2009 book of the same name. That idea explains how we went from living off the land and killing only what we needed to where we are today: Breeding so many pigs that farmers in North Carolina are forced to create Pepto-Bismal-colored pools of “fecal marinade” behind their properties, these pink lagoons...
So goes the premise of Christopher Quinn’s “Eating Animals,” an urgent but uncertain documentary that amplifies and expounds upon the argument Jonathan Safran Foer laid out in his 2009 book of the same name. That idea explains how we went from living off the land and killing only what we needed to where we are today: Breeding so many pigs that farmers in North Carolina are forced to create Pepto-Bismal-colored pools of “fecal marinade” behind their properties, these pink lagoons...
- 6/13/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
YouTube Red is dropping Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! following the filmmaker's admittance to accusations of sexual harassment and assault.
"We feel for all of the women impacted by the recent statements made by Morgan Spurlock," reads a statement from a YouTube spokeswoman. "In light of this situation, we have decided not to distribute Super Size Me 2 on YouTube Red."
YouTube picked up Supersize Me 2 for $3.5 million out of the Toronto International Film Festival. While no release plans were officially announced, the Google-owned streamer was planning to release it on its subscription streaming service, Red, in...
"We feel for all of the women impacted by the recent statements made by Morgan Spurlock," reads a statement from a YouTube spokeswoman. "In light of this situation, we have decided not to distribute Super Size Me 2 on YouTube Red."
YouTube picked up Supersize Me 2 for $3.5 million out of the Toronto International Film Festival. While no release plans were officially announced, the Google-owned streamer was planning to release it on its subscription streaming service, Red, in...
- 12/15/2017
- by Natalie Jarvey,Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Morgan Spurlock's return to the world of unhealthy fast-food is landing on the plate of YouTube Red.
Sources say the tech giant is in exclusive negotiations to acquire the doc Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! for $3.5 million. The film, which is bowing at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, is a follow-up to the director's 2004 Oscar nominee Super Size Me.
All eyes have been on tech giants like YouTube, Facebook and Apple, with the hope that they would inject energy into festival markets like Toronto. YouTube Red struck...
Sources say the tech giant is in exclusive negotiations to acquire the doc Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! for $3.5 million. The film, which is bowing at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, is a follow-up to the director's 2004 Oscar nominee Super Size Me.
All eyes have been on tech giants like YouTube, Facebook and Apple, with the hope that they would inject energy into festival markets like Toronto. YouTube Red struck...
- 9/8/2017
- by Tatiana Siegel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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