Morgan Spurlock just came off directing a documentary about male grooming, and now he’s turned his lens toward five young men who don’t even need to shave yet. The band is One Direction, the English-Irish pop band that was formed on the television show The X Factor and vaulted to international fame the way that dancing boy bands often do (even, impossibly, when they don’t feature Professor Ashley Angel from O-Town).
It would be easy to write something like this off as pablum for the screaming tween crowds, and there are a lot them in the trailer, but recent behind-the-scenes concert movies have been able to weave bubblegum into bold looks into what it’s like to be desired by mobs of millions. There’s a safety to the subjects, but as cultural feeds off itself, it’s also interesting to see what the pressure of superstardom entails. Plus, if there’s anyone who can lend a bit of quirky credibility to a project like this, it’s Spurlock.
The new trailer for 1D3D isn’t too surprising. When you can hear anything above the screaming fans, there are teary phone calls with parents, harmless antics and a whole host of male bonding.
But how much of the footage where they lead a gaggle of groupies back to the greenroom will make the final cut? These guys are all 19–21, but it’s almost a sure thing that this doc is squeaky clean.
1D3D sees theaters August 30th.
