Super-Sell Me: Morgan Spurlock Takes on Product Placement

The Sundance Film Festival kicked off today with its first big sale. Sony Pictures Classics bought director Morgan Spurlock's latest project: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a documentary about product placement and corporate sponsorship funded by product placement and corporate sponsorship.

The film is slated for North American release in April. The method director, best known for his 30-day McDonald's diet experiment that formed the basis of Super Size Me, quips, "I have funded this entire film with money from some pretty straight-laced companies, and the end result will surely make you laugh all the way to therapy."

The film's website describes the project:

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock examines the world of product placement, marketing and advertising by making a film entirely financed by product placement and advertising. These days, it seems like you can't even walk down the street without someone trying to sell you something. It's gotten to the point where practically the entire American experience is brought to us by some corporation.

In this comical exploration and thorough exploitation of Morgan Spurlock, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold explores the world of advertising and marketing as Morgan uses his integrity as currency to sell out to the highest bidder. Spurlock will shine the definitive light on our branded future as he tries to create the Iron Man of documentaries, the first ever docbuster!

While Spurlock obviously didn't go near McDonald's for this film, another Sundance documentary takes on the golden arches.

Hot Coffee, by lawyer-turned-director Susan Saladoff, uses the infamous McDonald's lawsuit as the basis for her film on how corporations shape public perception, an issue she says she constantly ran into with juries: