Morgan Spurlock
After stacking on the pounds in Super Size Me, the documentarian walked it off in search of the world's most wanted. He chats to Jonathon Rodgers
When making Where In the World Is Osama Bin Laden, you went to a bunch of dangerous places. Did you soil yourself at any point? I was most scared when we were imbedded with the troops in Afghanistan. These guys are heroes for what they do. We were with them when they were the targets of a Taliban ambush. We were with them when there was an IED in front of our convoy. The week before we got to the base we were staying on there was a mortar attack on the base. Nobody got killed but still, there was rockets falling from the skies! It's scary. You couldn't help but feel tense in those situations.
Do you feel a responsibility to your crew? You feel responsibility in the fact that you just want to do the right thing. You don't want to put yourself in a situation that's overly dangerous. It's not a surprise. Everybody who was involved in this came in knowing that there was a risk.
You've got kids now, shouldn't you be working 9-5 to bring home the bacon? Having a child changes the crazy things you choose to do. If I'd had my son before I chose to make this film I wouldn't have done it. Saying that, after my son was born I went to work in a West Virginia coal mine for 30 days for the season premier of our series [30 Days]. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in America. I wasn't traipsing through the Middle East in terrorist infested countries, but I was still in a very dangerous place.
So, smart guy, how would you solve the problems in the Middle East? I think as you see in the film there are multiple problems. People without jobs, access to food, clean drinking water, electricity - all the basic essentials. In Afghanistan people still don't have education. People have to send their kids to these very cheap madrasa where they get a very strict religious-based education. There are countries where people are oppressed by their own leaders - leaders supported by the United States. As you watch the film you can see patterns emerge. Those are patterns that can be rectified.
You've dedicated your life to making documentaries but do they really make a difference? You can't go into a movie saying, ‘I'm going to change the world with this. I'm going to change people's viewpoints'. In the United States we have five companies who control what we see, hear and read. There's a thirst for somebody to present an alternative point of view. And I believe independent documentary filmmaking is one of those last bastions of truly free speech.
How do you know they make a difference? Just on feedback. I gauge it based on the people I talk to. When I go through Texas, Kansas and Iowa, I talk to people who watch all my films. I grew up in the middle of the Bible belt [West Virginia] and it's not like these people don't watch what I make. They are as equally affected by my films as anyone else.
Aren't you just preaching to the left-wing choir? I try to present my stuff in a way that's not red state-blue state, Democrat-Republican. I try to create something that doesn't tell you what you believe or what to think. It gives you the opportunity to make you're own mind up. I try to cater to an audience that is on both sides of the fence.
What do you think about people who pirate your films? Take it. Steal it. Pass it on. I am pro-piracy. I think that there are plenty of people who can pay for things. I think there are plenty of people who can't. And I don't think you should restrict the access of a movie based on a dollar sign. I'm not making the Dark Knight or something that cost $290m. There's a stronger argument for a film like that than a film like mine that's basically made to inspire a conversation.