THE PREMIERE

Last week, something crazy happened – I got invited to go to the premiere of the movie Midnight Sun by the stars Patrick Schwarzenegger and Bella Thorne! I got to sit in the second row, center, to watch on a giant screen. Afterwards, I went to a party with all the actors, director, and producers. It was pretty cool! Bella Thorne has such a goofy, outgoing personality that I think would be fun to just hang out with her. She asked me what it was like to have XP, and I told her it’s just one thing about me, but not the most important thing. She agreed to that! Patrick Schwarzenegger is so handsome. I was such a dweeb meeting him. He was very kind and made sure I met everyone. I met Quinn Shephard and Nicholas Coombe, who play the best friends. They asked me a lot of questions about XP, and seemed really interested in learning about how it is in real life. I also liked meeting Rob Riggle, who plays the dad. He was so fun! I told him I sort of wished he was MY dad…don’t tell my real dad I said that. Rob Riggle laughed with me. I thought the director, Scott Speer, was very kind. He seemed genuinely happy to see me, and was interested in my opinion of the movie. Everyone gave me big hugs and was as excited to meet me as I was to meet them!

MY REVIEW

The movie is much more positive than the book. In the movie, Katie is outgoing and upbeat. She doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking her life is bad because of XP. She has happy, dorky relationship with her best friend. She likes hanging out with her dad, who worries about her a lot, but he tries to keep things optimistic. The relationships felt real, like it could be my best friend or my parents.

The romance between Katie and Charlie started as an awkward boy meets girl scenario. As they got to know each other better, they discovered things about each other. Charlie helped Katie reach for her singing dreams. Katie helped Charlie with his swimming dreams. I thought it was cool how they supported each other instead of Katie being helpless, only there to be Charlie’s inspiration.

The film was more happy than sad. The part I liked best was that Katie didn’t think of her life as a disease. She thought of it as an adventure – that’s how I like to live my life, too.

There were two problems I saw with the movie. One was that Katie never goes outside in the day time. I wish she had learned to find a better way to live with her disease instead of hiding with it. The other problem was that getting touched by the sun caused a major drama for her (no spoilers!). That’s not really how XP is. I think they made it that way to get people invested in the story.

I hope people will want to find out more about XP instead of just leaving it at a movie. There are real people who live with the disease every day, and not just for 90 minutes at a time. People with XP are fun! They have interesting lives, and they have stories to tell as well.

I had an awesome time at the movie premiere. I think people should keep an open mind. Go see the movie, and then go to xpfamilysupport.org to find out about real XP!