The Five Reasons I Love Brooklyn: Morgan Spurlock
Photo Rick DeMint portroids.com
Morgan Spurlock became famous for his 2004 documentary Super Size Me, in which he ate McDonald’s three times a day for 30 days and got very sick. His latest, POM wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, is an exploration of product placement in movies; Sony released it in theaters in April. a longtime New Yorker, he graduated from NYU in 1993, lived in DUMBO before 9/11, and recently settled down in Park Slope with his vegan-chef wife and four-year-old son.
When you were at NYU in the 90s, did you ever visit Brooklyn?
Brooklyn was one of those places that was so far away, it seemed like a place you never went to. I had friends in college who lived in the outer boroughs and I would go visit them and it felt like you were going so far and it was like, “OMG we’ve been on the train for an hour! This is taking forever!” And when I was in film school, they would always say, “Guys, come on, can you take your camera out—they have this thing called a MetroCard. I’m tired of seeing movies shot in Washington Square Park.” So we made a point to shoot in outer boroughs so it didn’t feel like we were just in Manhattan.
As the man who has discouraged so many from eating McDonald’s, what are some of the best places to eat in Brooklyn?
Oh, that’s a good question. There’s a great place that I love in Park Slope called Applewood, on 11th Street. I really like that place. Oh, I’ll tell you a place that I like—whenever I have friends or family in town, I take them to this place that’s just under the Brooklyn Bridge, the River Cafe, right under the bridge, right on the water. It has such a great view of the bridge and such a beautiful view of Manhattan. That and Grimaldi’s Pizzeria—I’m a huge fan of that.
When Borough President Marty Markowitz shows up to a press conference with a box of Junior’s cheesecake, is that product placement?
I can only hope Junior’s pays him to bring those cheesecakes to all those events. Although what do they say? The best way to get good articles is to keep your reporters fat and happy.