Liam Payne praises After movies after learning One Direction inspired them

12 October 2020, 11:15

Liam Payne praises the After movies

By Sam Prance

"It's so cool that being in that band has created so many great things. I will be watching Number 3."

Liam Payne is now the first member of One Direction to comment on the After franchise and it turns out that he's a huge fan.

Ever since the first After movie came out, it's divided the One Direction fandom. The films are based on a series of hit novels by Anna Todd and the first book originated as One Direction fanfiction on Wattpad. Hardin was Harry Styles in Anna's initial creation, Landon was Liam Payne, Zed was Zayn, Logan was Louis Tomlinson and Nate was Niall Horan.

READ MORE: After We Collided sequel replaces four actors ahead of filming final two movies

Fans criticised Anna for portraying Harry/Hardin as abusive in the series and many boycotted the films as a result. Until now, none of One Direction had publicly addressed the After books or the films but now Liam has praised them in a new video.

Taking to Instagram Live, Liam revealed that he had gone to the cinema to watch After We Collided with his fiancée Maya Henry without knowing that the film was inspired by One Direction. Liam said: "I was getting into it. It was very raunchy... and then I got out the cinema and realised that the film was based on characters that were all from One Direction which is the funniest thing."

Liam then explained that he watched the first one too and added: "It was an interesting viewing perspective. I liked that my character was the caring half-brother who just wanted the best for everyone. I feel like sometimes I'm more the main guy, Hardin, who was obviously based on Harry Styles but I feel like Landon should get his own spin-off personally."

Liam ended his After commentary by praising Anna Todd. He said: "Congratulations to the girl who wrote those. I know she wrote them while we were in the band together. It's so cool that being in that band has created so many great things. I will be watching Number 3."

After We Collided is out in cinemas in the UK now and will be released in the US later this month following several delays. Two more After movies are currently in production and due to come out in the next few years.

What do you think of the After movies and books?