justordinarry

Liz · @justordinarry

8th Sep 2013 from TwitLonger

Hiii everyone! This is my story of how I was chosen to be filmed for This Is Us and the experience I had being filmed in London and meeting Narry at the o2 arena. Thanks for reading, I love you all. (PS I'm inactive on @justordinarry right now but don't worry, I'll be back soon)


December 22, 2012: I got home from taking my final exam for the semester and I got on twitter and saw a video the one direction accounted tweeted about. The video was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa8t1DJQ_GM
I had a story, like most of the fans out there, about how the boys had completely changed my life for the better. I decided to tell my story and submit a video even though I knew I would have no chance of being chosen. I told my story, which I had only told only one other person before submitting the video, about my eating and body image struggles. I had always been the fat kid and when I got to high school I just wanted to feel pretty and fit in so I starved myself and I did slim down but I was so miserable. One day I was on Youtube I was watching one of those “worst Xfactor audition ever” videos and in the suggestion bar on the side I saw a video that was of a boy group performing “Viva La Vida” on the Xfactor UK. I clicked on it and I was immediately entranced by these five young boys singing their first live show performance. I of course proceeded to watch the rest of the videos of the boy group “One Direction’s” journey on the Xfactor. Through their performances and their video diaries these five boys put a smile on my face every time I watched. I began feeling happy again, something I hadn’t truly felt in a long time and then I followed the five boys as they blew up over seas and then when their first single came out I knew I had chosen the right idols. They made me feel beautiful just the way I was and they helped me feel good enough about myself again to stop starving myself. The boys completely changed my life for the better and I can never thank them enough for that. On December 22, 2012 I basically summed that up in a 60 second video and submitted it to the email in the description box of the video I posted above. After I sent the video in I thought that was the end of that. Another contest I wouldn’t win, another time my story was left unheard… but I was wrong.

March 3, 2013: I got emailed back. I was sitting in math class and I was bored so I decided to check my email account and I literally stopped breathing when I saw what was in my inbox. The account that I had submitted my video to back in December had emailed me back saying they were interested in me and they wanted to interview me over skype. When I got home from school it took me almost 2 hours of convincing my mom to let me have the interview cause she thought it was all a scam but finally she agreed so we set up an interview date.

March 6, 2013: I got home from soccer practice and tried to mentally prepare myself because I was about to have an interview with one of the producers of the 1d3d movie. The interview began and I nervously answered all the questions he asked me and at the end his final question was if we were to fly you out to London to see the boys in concert and meet the boys how would you react? And I answered that I would pass out and when I woke up I would cry and hug and thank the person who would have made that happen. Then he said that I was in the top 20 of contestants and he may or may not be in contact with me and then we ended the interview and I was left completely devastated because I was convinced I would never hear from him again because there would be a girl out there who was much better than me.

March 21, 2013: The call. The producer had earlier asked for my mom’s cell phone number and on this day my mom got a call from the producer that interviewed me saying he wanted to fly me out to London sometime the first week of April to film me for the movie. When my mom hung up the phone she kept saying, “this is fake, these people have to be scamming us, there is no way it’s real.” In all honesty I completely agreed with my mother, I couldn’t believe that I was actually chosen for something. Finally when my mom and I were sent our itinerary it hit us... this was actually happening.

April 4, 2013: Birmingham, Alabama airport. I was shaking like a leaf, I was holding my plane ticket and staring off into space because I couldn’t believe what I was about to embark on. I boarded the plane and then sat in the Atlanta airport for my two hour layover where I continued to flip a shit.

April 5, 2013: Finally I was able to get on my final flight to London where I miraculously slept through the whole flight and when I landed in Heathrow airport I thought: wow I guess this is actually happening. My mom and I went to baggage claim and there was a man with our names written on a white board who the producers had sent to pick us up. While he was driving us to our hotel we were given an international phone and a producer called and asked if we wanted tickets to the show that night. WHAT IS MY LIFE. Ok anyways of course we said yes and we went to the hotel and got ready and were picked up for the show. Our seats for the show were really close to all the families of the boys’ and I was star struck by just the family members. Then the concert started and I was completely in awe. I was pretty close to the stage and it was such an incredible show and I couldn’t believe I was in London, watching my idols perform live. The concert ended and we were driven back to the hotel and the producer texted us saying to be in the lobby of the hotel at 10am the next morning to be ready for filming (again, what is my life).

April 6, 2013: BEST DAY OF MY EXISTENCE. I got ready and my mom and I went to the lobby at 10am where we met up with a girl who was working for the movie, a producer, and three men running the camera and mic. We set us in a hallway near the lobby that was surrounded by windows. It was actually sunny that day so the room was so bright, which I felt like was a miracle for London. We set up the camera and I put my mic on and we got ready for the interview. The producer continued to ask me questions about the boys. He asked me how I found them, what I loved about them, how they make the fans feel, my favorite songs, and the last one was who my favorite member was. I said that my favorite member was Niall because that boy is my everything and he never fails to put a smile on my face. The producer said we had gotten a good amount and that we were going to drive over to the Thames River and interview me again over by the London Eye.
When we first arrived he said the first thing we were going to do was film me walking and looking out into the distance with the famous attractions of London in the background to prove I was actually in London. Never felt more awkward in my life. All these people were walking by and I was just being filmed walking and staring off into the distance… casual, everyday stuff. Then we did another short interview with similar questions and one of the questions that was asked again was who was my favorite and I again said Niall. After that we were driven back to the hotel and told we would be picked up at 3 to head to the o2 arena where we would do a little more filming and then go see the show.
So when 3pm came around we were driven to the arena and the girl who was with us that morning told us that they weren’t quite ready to film yet and they would let us know when they were ready for us to come backstage. So it finally came time where we were called back to the door that led to the backstage but my mom was told I would go back by myself and she would wait for me to finish to meet back up with me. So the door opened and walked out none other than Morgan Spurlock with a big camera crew and he greeted me and led me back to the empty o2 arena and we sat down in some seats in the arena where he began my third and final interview. He asked me some questions about the boys and then a question that I had already heard twice that day was asked again: Who is your favorite member of the band. As I answered Niall once again I felt someone hug me from behind. I thought it was my mom and I was so confused as to why my mother was hugging me while I was being filmed for a movie and I turned around and it was NIALL FUCKING HORAN. I was immediately put into a state of shock and I stood up to give him a real hug and the first thing he said to me was: “Holy shit you’re tall!” Hahaha good start, huh? So then we sat down and just talked for a good 10 minutes. First we talked about where I was from and I told him I was from Alabama which was next to Georgia since they’ve actually been to Georgia and know where it is unlike Alabama haha. Then when he realized I was from the south he started doing his adorable southern accent and would sing “Georgia on my Mind.” Then we talked about how the tour had been going and I told him they had done such and amazing job the night before and how awesome the show was. He said he was really excited to start the European leg of the tour though because they would get to go to so many cool places. We somehow got on the topic of old boy bands like NSync and I said loved that Justin was making music again and that Mirrors was my favorite song at the moment and he said it was his too and that it was being played constantly backstage. Then we talked about him getting his braces off because he had just gotten them off and he said that he had only gotten the top ones off (which was embarrassing because I thought the had gotten the bottoms ones off too). He also said that his retainer hadn’t come in yet and he was paranoid that his teeth were going to go back to the way they were for before and I said I would get the same way when I forget to wear my retainer. (Yes I talked about having braces with Niall Horan someone please shoot me for being so lame.) So then I asked about him playing guitar because I said I really wanted to learn how to play but I was scared it would be too hard. He said that literally he carried a guitar around everywhere and that I should just really commit and I would pick it up real quick. He also said that he was learning how to play the drums on the side and that he and Josh had actually had a jam session at his house the night before. Then we wrapped up the interviewed and we got up and he showed me his segway and he showed my some “tricks” which was where he basically just drove around in a circle haha. Then I gave him bag of gifts I had bought for the boys for the producers to give to them but I’m pretty sure Niall had lost the bag because everything in there had my twitter name on it including a note I had written and none of them ever followed me so I’m guessing he lost the bag which is totally acceptable… boy’s got a lot on his plate haha. He then proceeded to ask me if I was Irish and I was like yeah because I’m like 80% Irish and I asked how he knew that and he said it was because I had red hair(I’m blonde btw). Haha then he talked about they had some National Ginger day in Ireland and then somehow we started talking about Ed Sheeran and I was like he is my favorite ginger ever (kill me I’m so embarrassing) and then Niall fist bumped me and was like “he’s a legend, I love him.” And then we hugged again and we said goodbye and I said I love you and he yelled I love you too while he rode away on his segway.
After that incredible experience I was taken backstage into a room where I was shaking so bad I was almost convulsing and then a boy with curly hair walked by and I immediately said, apparently loudly, “Was that Harry Styles?!” He popped his head back in the room and I asked for a picture and he was like “sure babe!” So we got a selfie and then some blonde girl came running down the hall and he ran away because she was chasing after him. I asked on of the producers what that was about and she said that he had shoved cake in her face and she was trying to get him back. And sure enough, five minutes later Harry walked past with cake all over his face. Soon after, my mom met up with me backstage and we were given our tickets for that nights show and they were third row seats.
Third row. I have never been that close to the stage at a concert in my life and I was dying. So we went and watched the show and I tell you what being that close during a concert is absolutely incredible. During “Summer Love” Niall noticed me in the crowd and waved to me and pointed to the cameras cause he knew they were filming me for the movie. (You can she him waving at me and pointing in the first few seconds of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxR8r9Wy5Yk) So the show finished and I was driven back to the hotel and I couldn’t believe what had happened to me. I got to meet some of my favorite people in the world and see their show. I felt so incredibly blessed for the day I had had and I knew that nothing would ever compare to what I had experienced that day. April 6, 2013 was the best day of my life.

Unfortunately I was cut from the movie but I am still so blessed for the opportunity I had in London and I will never be able to thank the people who worked with the movie and the boys enough for everything they have done for me. Oh and I have heard a rumor that I may appear on some dvd footage just by the way;)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>4 months ago today I met y&#39;all in London for This Is Us &#10;Thanks for everything

Reply · Report Post