‘Missing’ Crew Explains How Challenging Filming ‘Younger, Faster’ ‘Searching’ Sequel Was

It may seem easy to record a movie like “Missing” with everyday cameras like a cell phone or computer. Nothing could be further from the truth: producer Natalie Qasabian already knew the difficulty of recreating this everyday and dynamic point of view with the 2018 critical and commercial success dubbed the definitive millennial thriller. The sequel to ‘Searching’ hits Spanish theaters on February 24 with the young Storm Reid taking over from John Cho in the search for a missing loved one by following his trail online. We spoke with both of them and with one of the two new directors this interview on the quantum leap in the mystery and technique of this second episode which, for newcomer Will Merrick, was like going from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man to “create the Spiderverse of the Searching saga”.

In an industry landscape where large-scale films are released on television/mobile/tablet, the production company defends that this adventure recorded through these small screens “it was always thought” for the rooms. As, the biggest challenge again was in the “balance between the realistic and the cinematic”. Qasabian sees a future for this format, to the point that “They could be doing ‘Avatar’ on screens. ‘Avatar: The Computer Sense'”. In addition to improving the ‘Search’ technique, they have kept the same goal in the storyline that they had already discussed during the production of the first chapter: “Many of the depictions on the internet were like something bad. In these two films we wanted to show the Internet as something objective”.

For this quantum leap, Sony opted for young first-time directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick. The latter Ensures you don’t feel pressured by the shadow of the successful first installment: “It wasn’t about what worked and what didn’t in ‘Searching’. We wanted something different, younger and faster”. The real potential of this format for Merrick that differentiates it from others such as 3D or found footage is being able to see “Moments that weren’t recorded and happened in front of a screen. You don’t see what someone wants to project, but what they think”.

A teenager with experience in networks and suffering

The situation has changed: from a father looking for his daughter in the first to a daughter looking for her mother in the sequel. Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man”) is the teenager in question. After working on blockbusters for Disney and DC at just 19, the young actress assures it “‘Searching’ was an amazing idea that I’ve never seen before”. Sure, once again it is the turn of a suffering young woman as in her supporting roles in the acclaimed HBO series ‘Euphoria’ and ‘The Last of Us’.

“So far, I’ve had to be very upset, sad or frustrated, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all”. While he graciously recalls how difficult it was to film with a watch on his wrist or a computer tethered to a camera, he boasts that “I was already familiar with all the apps and technologies June used”. Here because, as a young woman well versed in these technologies in and out of film, her advice for all viewers who want to reflect on the correct use of the Internet with ‘Missing’ from February 24 in theaters is to make sure “that your fingerprint is what you want and be intentional with the things you post to the world”.