Technology often moves faster than s know how to keep up with, which is why it takes a truly tech-savvy character to headline a film such as Missing. In the five years since the John Cho-led Searching took the box office by storm, cell phones can already do twice as many things as they could before. But while horror movies like M3GAN warn against the dangers of paying technology too much mind, Missing is a tense thriller that tackles how it can be used to save lives in unexpected ways.
Produced by the filmmaking duo who made Searching, Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, Missing was written and directed by Nick Johnson and Will Merrick. The new film stars Euphoria's Storm Reid as June Allen, a teenager glued to her phone (but uninterested in checking voicemails) who sets out to find her mom Grace Nia Long (The Best Man) through the internet when she never comes home from her trip to Colombia. While the media and even investigators begin to believe Grace was in cahoots with her no-good boyfriend, June makes it her mission to clear her mom's name by whatever apps necessary.
Screen Rant spoke to Long about bonding with her costar Storm Reid even when not sharing a screen, and how working on Missing meant adjusting her performance for the specific screens through which her character would be seen.
Nia Long Talks Missing
Screen Rant: I loved Missing, and I loved the dynamic between Grace and June. You guys did a great job of developing it, despite spending so much time apart. What was it like to work with Storm Reid?
Nia Long: Well, I know that Storm loves her mama. She talks about her all the time, and I think when you have that natural connection, you have a space and a starting point. I'm also a mother, and my son is a little bit older than her, but I have a natural maternal instinct and connection. I love young people; I consider myself one of them.
I consider myself a part of everything that's happening, just in of the world of technology. We all had to step up our game, right? Everyone had to step it up. Stepping it up and keeping that connection through technology was interesting and challenging. But I think when you have those strong relationships in your own life, it helps. And, look, let's just face it. The girl has chops! She knows what she's doing, so it's all good.
I was going to ask, because the technology made me feel old. I don't know half these apps.
Nia Long: Yeah, me either. I was like, "Wait, what is this? What does this do?" I was not afraid to ask questions, but then embarrassed that I had to ask questions. Because everyone's kind of like. "You don't know that?" And I'm like, "...No."
Was there a difference in the filming process? I know that Storm is on the computer the whole time, but were your scenes recorded differently because of the nature of the screens through which they're viewed?
Nia Long: A lot of it was real-time, and then some of it was dropped in. I'm actually visualizing it as we're talking; there were various hidden cameras around the room. Sometimes I knew and sometimes I didn't know, and so if I was acting for one camera, I was like, "But if I stand this way, I'm going to be completely blocking the camera." And the guys would say, "No, there's another camera down there." I'm like, "You guys are sneaky."
After a while, I just was like, "I'm good. I'm gonna just trust and do my job and keep asking questions, so I don't look foolish." Honestly, not feeling so secure and feeling that this was such a new process actually helped in the storytelling.
About Missing
When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June's search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it's too late. However, as she digs ever deeper, her digital sleuthing soon raises more questions than answers.
Check out our other Missing interviews here:
Missing arrives in theaters on January 20.
