Morgan Spurlock: The Mr. Skin Interview

Is an award-winning documentarian like yourself familiar with Mr. Skin
I am. I met Mr. Skin at the recent Las Vegas video show. I think it's great!

Maybe your next documentary could be about submitting yourself to a steady diet of only Mr. Skin's breast bits.
There you go, but I think people have already made those. Aren't they already being done [laughs].

What part of you would be super-sized after making that?
You never can tell.

In Super Size Me you only ate McDonald's, but do you think all fast foods are created equal?
For me, I think there are certain chains that have things that are a little better for you than others, but I personally think if you're going to eat something you can make such a good burger at home. But if you're going to go out and eat a burger at some place I'd go to In-and-Out Burger in California. It's a great burger. Me, I like going to the ma and pop diners on the corner that use fresh-ground beef, really good bread. Those are the places I really like to go.

It's the process foods you avoid.
Yeah, it's just so mass-produced, that kind of food. At In-and-Out Burger when the French fries come into a store, before they're cooked, you know what they are? They're potatoes. They open the box and you know what's inside? It's a potato that they wash off, put through the chunker that makes it into fries and then they throw it into the oil. That's all, one step away from being a potato. I can't even tell you how many steps, because they'll never tell you how many steps away these French fries are from being potatoes.

But what about a Big Mac Attack? It's scientifically documented that a body craves that food, especially after watching one of McDonalds' mouthwatering commercials, though the reality never lives up to the advertisement. Do you still dine at the Golden Arches?
No, of course not. Like I said, for me there are so many better places to get a burger. So if I'm going to get one I'm going to go someplace that makes a really good, quality burger.

You sport a very '70s, almost porn-star mustache, I'm curious if you have a favorite porn or sexploitation film?
What about The Devil in Miss Jones (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4) ? It was one of my early favorites. I think that whenever you're a young kid and you can see things you're not supposed to it's exciting. I think the fact that I was just watching it was great [laughs].

Do you remember the first time you saw a sex scene in a movie?
I tell you one thing I remember as a kid was right after we got HBO and there was a movie called Lifeguard on TV, which had a naked ass shot. There wasn't even sex in it, but it was this naked ass running across the screen. And I was young and went into my mom and said, "Mom, there's a naked butt on TV!" And she said, "Oh, that's good." My mom didn't care [laughs]. For me, watching TV was like watching people with their clothes on and here there was a naked bum on TV and I was like, wow! Maybe that's what lit the fuse for me.

Since then, have specific movies inspired you in that way?
Not that I can really think of There are plenty of people, like I remember Terri Welles, who was one of my favorites from back in the day. When I was younger I just thought that she was the hottest thing ever. But there are no real movies that stand out for me.

What actresses super-size you?
I love Chasey Lain (Picture: 1) , you know, from back in the day. I'm not real familiar with a lot of the ones around today.

I'm not talking porno girls...
Oh, actresses in general. Oh my God, I love Scarlett Johansson (Picture: 1). I dig her. I love Cate Blanchett (Picture: 1) . I think she's gorgeous and she seems really smart, too - after Scarlett Johansson. And Halle Berry (Picture: 1) , oh my God, she's fantastic. That's it.

The world wants to know, Morgan, are you an ass man or a tit lover?
I've always been a boob guy, for as long as I can remember. My mother didn't breast feed me, so maybe that's what happened. I think it's all her fault [laughs].

Does your mother have a big bust?
No, not at all.

You worked at MTV for a while as a producer and host on a show called I Bet You Will. Do you have any sexy MTV moment, like a chance encounter with a video vixen?
Yeah, I wish. But we were so off on our own. We weren't with the stars, which were at 1515 Broadway, which is Viacom headquarters. We were out on 1633 Broadway, which is this satellite production building. So, I never really got to interact with too many people.

Did you watch a lot of MTV?
When I was growing up, yeah, from back in the day, when it was like JJ Jackson and the gang. Suddenly, when hair bands and all the heavy metal of the '80s came in and here were all these girls in thongs and M?y Cr?ideos that made an eighth-grade boy really happy [laughs].

What about movies that made that grade-school boy smile?
It was a cheesy movie, but I loved Flash Gordon. There were some great-looking girls in that movie that were wearing these totally cheesy '80s outfits, but it was fantastic. I love that. When I grew up I really wanted to do a lot of movie special-effects, when I was a teenager that was what I was really into, so I loved a lot of the really gory movies. Of course, the Friday the 13th and Halloween (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3) movies, but even the ones that were even more gory, like Motel Hell (Picture: 1 - 2). There were always teenage girls naked and screaming in those, which is the best thing ever. I loved those movies when I was growing up.

And of course, Meatballs was right up the skin alley. Hot Dog... The Movie (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4) and Porky's (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4) . Probably, when I was younger, that was one of the seminal teenage movies for me, seeing Porky's. I had never laughed so hard in my life. It was great.

Uh, I've lost my train of thought...
See, Porky's does that to people.

That's true. Well, what's next for you?
The DVD [of Super Size Me] is coming out. And next year I'd love to do a scripted film, a comedy. Which I think will be right up the Skin folks alley.



Photos by Julie Soefer