Quite a thrill for high school soph Lisa Higgins
By Andrew Corselli, Staff Writer
Hillsborough resident Lisa Higgins has made it to the big screen. The 16-year-old’s picture is shown in the Justin Bieber 3-D movie “Never Say Never.”
”It’s really, really cool because all my Facebook friends are asking about how I got into the movie,” Lisa said. “I’m definitely getting a lot more attention than I was before.”
The sophomore at Hillsborough High School found her way into the movie thanks to the social networking site Twitter. The film’s director put out a tweet — the word for communicating on Twitter — about a Web site fans can go to and submit their picture for potential usage in the movie. Lisa also found out that her picture had made it into the movie via Twitter.
”All my friends were watching a trailer online and I got all these tweets that said they saw my picture,” she said. “I had an idea that I’d be in the movie, but I wasn’t sure until I saw it.”
Lisa’s picture appears when the 17-year-old teen idol is singing his song, “You Smile,” in the concert documentary. Her picture was chosen out of the thousands submitted.
”There were pictures, maybe five pictures max, of fans that you could actually (identify) the faces, and then I came up as the last picture,” she said. “It was up for three or four seconds, which was up for a lot more than a lot of people’s, and it was the only 3D one out of all of them.”
Lisa’s mom, Judith, couldn’t be happier with her daughter’s newfound fame. Appearing on the silver screen has been positive and impacted the teen’s life for the better, she said.
”It came at a perfect time in her life. She has gained more confidence in general, especially during the difficult teenage years, when teens are finding their identity and trying to fit in,” Ms. Higgins said. “I think since she has been seen she’s more open and less timid. She’s trying new things that she may have hesitated before. She’s happier and her outlook is much more positive and confident.”
Ms. Higgins also doesn’t mind that Lisa spends a lot of time on Twitter, where she communicates on a daily basis with friends in addition to people she has never met.
”I’ve looked at what she does,” she said. “She’s met some really great kids on Twitter who are sharing the same interests as her. Unfortunately there are others that are not so kind, but she has connected with some good kids so I don’t find it being a problem. She’s very open to me about communications online. Overall it’s been a real positive experience, especially when you’re so into a teen idol.”
Lisa tweets with people from all over the United States, and has even met a couple of her Twitter friends that live in the area. For her, finding other people her age that share the same interests is fun.
”A lot of them are all across the country, but a lot of people that follow me and who I follow are from New Jersey and New York,” Lisa said. “I’ve met a few; one I bumped into at The Situation’s, from “Jersey Shore,” book signing. One I was talking to on line (at the book signing) and now we talk (on Twitter) all the time. Then there was the premiere for (Never Say Never) and I met up with a girl from Twitter there.”
Although the movie has been out for less than a month, Lisa has seen it “twice already and I’m probably going to see it again this weekend,” Lisa said. “I thought it was really good. Not even because I’m a fan but I brought two of my friends who weren’t fans and now they say they’re huge Bieber fans.”