(CBS Local)--15 years after stuffing his face with McDonald's food for 30 straight days, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is back with a brand new documentary. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Its main target was McDonalds, and its big reveal was that the franchises food was even worse for your health than you might have imagined. Much of the chicken that ends up on your plate comes from one of a handful of big businesses, such as Tyson and Perdue. Holy Chicken premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017. This former Wendy's closed in 2014 and in 2017 and it was used for a movie about fast food called Super Size Me 2. Charles Morris, Tori Morris, and director Morgan Spurlock attend the "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" Holy Chicken, both the film and the franchise, aim to debunk the chicken industrys corporate mythology, breaking down what Spurlock says are misleading phrases like natural, artisan and free range., Spurlock said there are places that do actually raise chickens in the free-range environment people imagine: There are places where the chickens do actually get to go outside, but they're so few and far between of what is truly representative of the industry it's crazy.. It's one of the things I'm continuing to try and move forward as best you can.. He confessed that he had been accused of rape while in college and had settled a sexual harassment case with a female assistant. In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, Morgan Spurlock attends the 11th Annual New York Television Festival "CNN Presents: An Original Take on the Stories of Now" at the SVA Theatre in New York. Since Spurlock left the public eye, Warrior Poets has come under fire as seven former employees told Jezebel that the company had a fratty, boys club culture. Jonathan Buttram, a farmer featured in the film, argues the whole chicken business needs to be dismantled, including the way farmers and slaughterhouse workers are treated. Credits: Directed by Morgan Spurlock. I'm excited to see who this filmmaker is now that [he's come] out of this process versus the one that was there before, he said. . Farmer Jonathan Buttram serves as Spurlock's window into the chicken industry in the documentary. The film was also dropped from Sundance in 2018 and Spurlock stepped away from his production . People love these and other items despite knowing that theyre not good for them. Spurlock said theres a dark side to big chicken, referring to the nations top chicken producers. But for now, the way Morris sees it, Big Chicken dodged a major bullet. Farmers and chickens are being mistreated, Buttram told The Washington Post. My son's been blackballed and my wife, they stopped placement of her contract. Jonathan Buttram, a farmer featured in the film, argues the whole chicken business needs to be dismantled, including the way farmers and slaughterhouse workers are treated. Green equals good, as Spurlock discovers. I felt that Super Size Me 2 was his best film, Powers said of Spurlock. . women find hidden cameras inside Airbnb's bathroom, PSAC says tentative agreement reached with Treasury Board for 120,000 workers, Non-U.S. residents banned from purchasing tickets to Maple Leafs road games in Florida, How to create a 'win-win' situation for workplace mental health: psychologist, King Charles to uphold long-standing royal tradition of celebrating birthday twice, Trump lawyer seeks mistrial in rape case, citing judge bias, Mother-to-baby HIV transmission shouldn't be happening in Canada, researchers say, 2014: BTO speaks after Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction, Canadian from Guelph, Ont. According to numerous sources, Spurlock has reclaimed the rights to Super Size Me 2 from YouTube but people close to the movie say there are no current plans on how (or if) it will ever be released. The filmmaker and farmer discuss the new . They taste good. That news ladys investigative report and shocked reaction was far more revealing (and more hilarious) than Spurlocks reaction to his similarly posed experiment. Alabama farmers like Jonathan Buttram are voting for Doug -- even if they usually vote Republican -- because they know that Doug too has integrity. had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Im going to be honest, I feel like Ive been let down, Morris said when asked how he felt about not being contacted by Spurlock directly. And what about Super Size Me 2? The documentary is in many ways collateral damage following Spurlocks confession, collecting dust on a shelf somewhere and no longer a tool for the people who needed it to be seen by audiences the most: the dozens of farmers who have brought lawsuits against Big Chicken. The documentarys main target is the multibillion-dollar chicken industrys big five megacompanies the Chicken Mafia, as Buttram calls them. But the problem is when the people backed out who were to release the movie it hurt the consumers but it hurt the poultry growers a lot worse. Despite his skeptical view of the industry with two films, Spurlock thinks fast food can be both ethical and affordable, pointing to companies like Warby Parker and Toms as examples of firms that do well financially and also do good. I was shocked at how manipulated and owned these guys are by the chicken companies. But I am also part of the solution.. He has some very good ideas at play here, but theyre presented in a lackluster fashion that kept sending my mind to other places where his material had been done before and better. Currently, the lawsuit Morris and 19 other farmers filed in Kentucky against Tyson has been in the discovery phase since 2016, which is uncharacteristically long, according to Morris attorneys. I'm grateful to Jonathan and his family for sticking by me in the process. And she did it In four minutes. The chicken farmers who worked with us risked their livelihood to give us a glimpse into the vicious cycle of the chicken industry, hoping that their courage might help lead to change once the public had the opportunity to see the way chicken farmers are manipulated and forced into a cycle of debt. Speaking at the premiere, Buttram detailed the toll these draconian and punitive practices had on his fellow farmers. Hot pants Again there was nothing physical to it, but itverbally crossed the line it was demeaning.. And that's the thing that I've been fighting for the last 18 months: Jonathan and Zach, who literally put their life and work on the line to tell their story and be a part of this.. He discovers that offering his chickens a few inches of walled-off space outside means they are now officially "free-range.". ET on ABC. I'm going to keep on going for the animals sake and for the humans sake. Im sure Tyson threw a big party when they heard what happened, Morris said. Theres also a "man on the street" interview showing how confused people actually are about these monikers. Though Super Size Me 2 wouldnt have been able to speed up the wheels of justice, many involved in the suit believe at the very least Super Size Me 2 would have put a huge spotlight on the issue. Two years on, he said he's "in the process of continuing to heal and continuing to get better and make amends to the people that I need to. Morgan Spurlock is about to launch his latest venture luring customers in with his version of the perfect chicken sandwich at his pop-up restaurant Holy Chicken. 32 terms. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. You see our sandwich, we stand much higher above them, and there is no competition, Spurlock said of both restaurants. But that hasnt stopped Morris from single-handedly trying to get the movie out to the public. Spurlock worked with farmer Jonathan Buttram in Alabama to raise the chickens for his restaurant. They pay their farmers through a tournament system, pitting grower against grower, where griping about unfair conditions often leads to a flock of smaller, even sicker birds the next month, triggering a cycle of lower output and lower compensation. He warns consumers may have to pay a little bit more to support independent farmers and chains that pay a living wage. He eventually also lost his production company, Warrior Poets. National Chicken Council. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. "Two weeks ago, I had two farmers calling me threatening to commit suicide. may never be released after the director's December self-revelations about a pattern of sexual harrasment. Its crispy because the word fried is marketing taboo. The news is that hes opening his own fast food restaurant. And it was an incredibly selfless action that I took to do that because the ripple effect of what happened affected so many people.. I interviewed Morgan recently, and he discussed the chicken and public relations industries, and the effect of Big Agra on family farmers . MaybeSpurlockshould never work in "that town" again, but this feels like an important work that doesn't deserve to be scrapped entirely. We had sold the sequel to the film out of the Toronto Film Festival to YouTube for $3.5 million, he said. We can mortgage everything we got and buy the rights, Morris said. Spurlock has gone from being an avid Big Mac consumer in "Super Size Me" to serving his own chicken sandwiches in "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" Finally, Spurlock found Jonathan Buttram last summer, an Alabama chicken farmer who for the last decade has been trying to get the public to understand what Big Chicken has done to farmers . The culture is still grappling with how and when men who have admitted or been accused of sexual wrongdoing should emerge from exile. There's also frustration from some who feel that the people who risked everything to go on camera for Spurlock have now been abandoned. "These are guys who are indentured servants. What's the best version of me I can put out everyday. His pop-up restaurant in Ohio has long since closed but Spurlock brought it to New York to coincide with the film's release. ", First published on September 10, 2019 / 1:38 PM. The big company provides the chicks. Great! More to explore. Instead, grill marks are painted on with dark food coloring. Its the last place anyone would expect to see the arch enemy of fast food. Days later, YouTube announced it would not release " Super Size Me 2 " and Spurlock stepped down as head of his production company, Warrior Poets. His sandwiches are wrapped in paper that says: "Better for you -- sounds great, means nothing." For Spurlock, the truth telling hes done all these years in front of the camera is now matched behind it. It is clearly told in a story intended for entertainment and not based on facts. The film follows his every step, from raising poultry and creating recipes to designing a brand and scouting locations. But it's also one of those moments as a manic depressive, you don't think about the results of your actions in those moments. The movie became a must-see, grossing over $20 million at the box office worldwide (on a $65,000 budget). Spurlock is once again up to his muckraking high jinks, delivering the scoop from within the very structures of American fast-food mongering and corporate agribusiness that he seeks to critique. Its also an exercise in radical transparency in the fast-food industry. Chicken farmer Jonathan Buttram is a plaintiff in our lawsuit against the Trump administration for rolling back protections for family farmers and ranchers from corporate agribusiness abuses. They barely flinch at the most awful parts of the process, and yet this consumer response is supposed to be the films thesis. Now, 15 years later, Morgan Spurlock is trying his hand at chicken with a new movie called Super Size Me 2 -Holy Chicken. Jonathan Buttram, a farmer featured in the film, argues the whole chicken business needs to be dismantled, including the way farmers and slaughterhouse workers are treated. The Original Grilled Crispy Chicken Sandwich TM (Regular or Spicy) Crunchy Greens ; L'il Cluckers Chicken Tenders ; The Holy Salad; Guests at the pop up will include Jonathan and Zack Buttram, two Alabama chicken farmers who appear in the film and who are currently blackballed by BIG CHICKEN from raising birds for any company. Both are part of our commitment to promote transparency and communications with the independent farmers who grow chickens for us. Its complex so there's no bite size way to describe it, Muraskin said of the plight of the chicken farmers. But nutritionally not much has changed. Spurlock declined to comment for this story. Spurlock's own chicks are bred to grow so fast that they often suffer heart attacks or can't stand up. Rated PG-13 for language, themes, a poultry autopsy.
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