By Dino-Ray Ramos (special to Pop My Culture)

Note: Cole and Vanessa are excited to welcome writer/journalist/all around nice guy Dino-Ray Ramos as a contributor to the Pop My Culture Podcast website. Look for periodic pieces by Dino in the future!

Morgan Spurlock is probably best known as the guy who made a documentary about going on an all McDonald’s diet in Supersize Me. Since then, he has created some clever documentaries but his latest project will take him into the echelons of fame and power…at least with teen and tween girls it will. In One Direction: This is Us he documents the lives of Niall, Zayn, Liam, Louis, and Harry — the members of the hottest boy band since the days of Backstreet Boys and Nsync. We had the chance to talk with him about the dreamy members of One Direction, traveling the world with them, making a 3D movie, and why he decided to take on something so unexpected.

Considering your other movies, why did you decide to do a documentary about One Direction?

Morgan: Why not? Why can’t a handsome 42-year-old man can’t be a Directioner? Is that what you’re saying? (laughs) Paramount called me when they were getting ready to do the Justin Bieber film. They said, “We’d love you to come in and meet with us about possibly making this movie.” At that time I was doing The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and I was like, “There’s no way I can start to wrap my head around this.” Then last January we’re finishing both Comic-Con (Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope) and Mansome.  Again, we got a call saying, “Would you like to go meet with Paramount about possibly doing the Kate Perry movie?” I was like, “There’s no way I can do this.” I said, “We’re finishing two movies right now.” I said, “It’s impossible. There’s no way I can even think about adding another movie to this pile.”

Then come June, we’ve delivered both those movies. We have some things in development, nothing that we were in active production on film-wise and Sony calls and says, “Have you ever heard of this band One Direction?” I was doing a series in the UK about a year and a half ago called New Britannia for Sky Atlantic and I was there as literally they were exploding throughout all of the UK and into Europe and so I was like, “Yeah. Of course I know who they are. They’re huge.” They said, “Would you want to come meet with us about possibly making a movie about these guys?” I was like, “Yes. Yes, I would love to come meet with you guys. You tell me when I will be there.” I was like “I’m not going to miss another one of these opportunities.”

Considering the source material, did you approach it differently than your other films?

As a documentary filmmaker the chance to get to make a film of this scope and this scale are few and far between. I mean, they just don’t happen. If you’re lucky to get to make a movie with a studio that gives you a budget that is beyond anything documentary filmmakers ever get to have, to use technology that you never get to have access to, to make a film in 3D about a band that is one of the biggest bands in the world, I was like, “That’s an amazing story.” I would love to tell that story.  If all those reasons aren’t good enough as to why you want to make a film like this, let me just put it in an even better, even simpler perspective. The day this movie comes out, it’s going to be seen by more people around the world that have seen all my movies on opening day combined (laughs).

When you first met the guys, were they still wide-eyed and excited about everything or were they already used to the crazy celebrity lifestyle?

I first met with them a year ago in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I think they were still so excited about everything. I think that’s what I love about them. There’s still this incredible innocence for them. I think they have gotten used to the mass of people that are always around.  What I think is still exciting for them is when they get to go travel and experience things that are completely different.

Where did you get to travel with them first?

The very first thing we shot was Japan. They’ve never been to Asia before and so to get to be with them when they’re experiencing this incredible culture for the first time — I find moments like that to be so beautiful because it is. They are young and they haven’t experienced a lot of the world and to get to have those moments with them is really special.

There’s one point in the movie where the guys were walking around Amsterdam and they had to take shelter in a Nike store because of the huge crowd of fans that began to follow them. Were you at any point scared for you and your crew because of the uncontrollable mobs?

I was only worried about us until the guys showed up because  the minute the guys show up then no one cares about us. We might as well have been invisible at that point. I’ve been knocked out of the way by 13- to 16-year-old girls. They were like little linebackers.

When filming this how did you manage to stay true to your own documentary style, but also stay true to these guys as people and celebrities?

When I first pitched my idea to the studio of what I thought that movie was, I said this movie is about two things: dreams and family. Here are these guys who basically came from simple, humble beginnings. They had families that gave them a tremendous amount of support and a foundation on which to find the courage to chase their dreams. Once it happened, they have this family that doesn’t quite understand what’s happening. They don’t quite know how to give advice. They can’t quite be parents anymore but now they have this new family. Each one of these guys now has four other guys who knows exactly what they’re going through.

That’s probably why they have stayed so sane and likable.

I think part of the reason why they haven’t had any kind of Bieber-esque meltdowns is because they have each other. They have one another to rely on. They have one another to keep each other in check. I think to have the ability to spread the wealth and spread that pressure and tension is really helpful. They talked about that a few different times like, “If I had this by myself, I’d go crazy.” It really does give them an anchor and it gives them strength.

How was it like working in 3D?

We really pushed 3D (with the concert footage) and then we did a conversion on everything else — but it’s definitely not as pushed out as much as the concert is because we really wanted the concert to pop. We want the concert to really feel alive but what I love is that it just doesn’t feel jarring. When I watched Never Say Never and Part of Me, I felt like each one of those films is two different films. I feel like there’s a concert film and then there’s this stock film that they’ve sandwiched together to try and tell a story. What I think this film does incredibly well is both. The songs that come in support the story. Everything marries together to tell one cohesive narrative thread.

Like an integrated musical.

Yeah. It feels much more like a narrative than a documentary to me which is also what I loved about the movie.  It’s because they have a great story. There’s a great arc in the film and I don’t feel like we’re shoving a concert down your throat. I really wanted to try and push the technology in different ways. Our Director of Photography, Tom Krueger, is a brilliant guy. He was the director of photography on U2 3D which I think, up till now, was probably the best 3D concert movie I’ve ever seen. I think he really outdid himself with this movie. We really pushed things in a different direction. If you look at the 3D in this movie — when we pushed in on the boys, there’s a tremendous amount of shape to the images — it’s like the boys are coming out from the screen.

What was your perspective of the group before and then after making the film?

I think it’s easy to come into a movie like this and be cynical. I think it’s easy to come in and say, “Simon Cowell is back there pulling the strings, making everything happen. Once you start to understand how the process works, you get and see how they are. You understand that these are five guys with real talent who, through a miracle of fate, were  literally picked to be put together and exploded into being one of the biggest bands in the world. I mean, it’s remarkable.

I got a sense of how much they are in control of their own destiny. Everything is voted on by the band. There’s no Svengali behind a curtain telling them what to do. There’s no great and powerful Oz. They have a little democratic process. They sit around the table and ask “Should we add more dates to the tours? Should we do matinees?  Do we want to endorse this product?” The five of them vote.  They are in control of a lot of that destiny. It’s great.

Have they seen the film already?

They have. I showed the final cut of the film which then had all the  3D conversion, effects and full Abbey Road mix.  I flew to Chicago from London. They were playing in Chicago that night. After their gig, at like 11:30 midnight, they came to the theater. It was just them, a couple of their friends, some security. There were a dozen of us that watched the film and they loved it. I got their seal of approval.

There are a lot of One Direction moms but I noticed quite a few dads in the movie.

There are a lot of One D dads. People don’t give them credit! I’m all about the One D dads.

You would think that they would just take their daughters because they have to, but did you find a lot of them were genuine fans?

There was a friend of mine who saw the film with his two daughters and he says, “Anything that makes my daughters this excited and this happy, I’m all for them.” He takes them to concerts. He takes them to shows and he goes, “It makes me have so much fun when I see how much fun they’re having.”

How did you make it to appeal more of the general movie going audience…or should I say non-Directioners?

I think that there’s plenty of people who I think are closet Directioners (laughs). That’s probably not the right word, but there are  people who are intrigued. They want to see what is all this fandom is about. I was also making the film for that audience because then when you go and you see them, you get it. They are so fantastically charming. They are so likable. The guy that leaves the stage is the same guy that’s in that film. I like to tell people: “I challenge you to go see this film and not leave liking these guys.”