In his latest project, “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken,” documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock took on the fast food industry in a different way: by opening his own shop.
Taking on the fast food industry from the inside out was no picnic. Spurlock’s reputation, earned from the original “Super Size Me,” in which he suffered severe health consequences after eating only McDonalds, preceded him. Not everyone wanted to be on camera, while others wold just hang up on him when he’d call.
“There were people who were scared to work with us,” Spurlock told TheWrap’s Matt Donnelly in an interview. “I call and a lot of people just go click. Wrong number, wrong number, and they hang up. People who were scared from the industry perspective, who work in the food business. They’re like, ‘the minute I help you, all my clients are going to go away.’ To farmers and growers who raised our chickens who, when we called these farmers to work with them, were like, ‘We can’t help you, because if we do, my business will dry up. The big companies will backlash against me and I’ll be screwed.’”
“You start to see the handle and the hold this industry has across the board,” he added.
Spurlock directs, stars in and produced “Super Size Me 2″ with Jeremy Chilnick and Matthew Galkin, where he went through the process of opening his own fast food restaurant. The documentarian raises his own livestock, makes handshake deals with food distributors, plans his own menus and attempts to build a brand. In the process, he exposes the grip his powerful competitors at the drive-thru have on the economy.”
Spurlock told TheWrap he wanted to “pay homage to the first film,” but wanted to ensure “Super Size Me 2” stands alone.
“You have to come in saying, the first one was was such a special thing,” Spurlock said. “It won’t be that. It’s got to be its own animal.”
YouTube Red, the streaming giant’s paid subscription tier, is close to acquiring worldwide rights to “Super Size Me 2.”
Watch the entire interview above.