Inside Liam Payne's relationship with Super Size Me filmmaker Morgan Spurlock

The world remains in shock following the news that One Direction star Liam Payne has died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

At 31, Payne had achieved international fame with the boyband One Direction, which was formed on The X Factor in 2010. The group, consisting of Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Payne, became one of the biggest pop acts globally, with their lives and music captured in several concert films and documentaries.

These included One Direction: The Only Way Is Up in 2012 through to 2013's feature-length One Direction: This Is Us, and concert film One Direction: Where We Are.

Before his untimely death, Payne paid tribute to documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock on Instagram in what would be his final post to the social media platform. The post featured an image of the band alongside Spurlock, captioned: "Rest in peace Morgan Spurlock it was a pleasure working with you."

Spurlock died from cancer at the age of 53 in May this year, prompting Payne's memorial post. But what else is known about the pair's relationship?

Spurlock gained fame with his Oscar-nominated 2004 documentary Super Size Me, where he exclusively ate McDonald's for a month, documenting the detrimental effects on his health prompting the fast-food chain to discontinue its Super Size option.

His connection to Payne and the rest of One Direction is due to his work on This Is Us, which he directed. This Is Us followed the band on their 2012 to 2013 world tour, featuring live concert footage as well as backstage moments and interviews from behind-the-scenes with a hefty run time of nearly two hours.

In 2019, Spurlock launched a follow-up to Super Size Me, titled Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken, where he