‘Missing’ Filmmaker Talks Twists And Turns In Sony Pictures Teen Tech Thriller

In Missing. the computer never takes its eye off the action as the audience tries to solve this clever whodunit through its ever-present gaze. Panning left, panning right, at times with no human driving the narrative, the computer is watching a story unfold about itself as hero. That is the genius of this film, producer Sev Ohanian told me in a wide ranging interview about his latest release with Sony Pictures.

With cinematic emotionality, sweeping twists and a shocking ending, there is much that sets Missing apart from others in the screen horror genre — including its prequel, the 2018 critically-acclaimed Searching.

HBO’s Storm Reid (Last of Us, Euphoria) stars as a teenager-turned-digital-detective who must tap a myriad of tech at her fingertips to rescue her mom who disappears three thousand miles away while on vacation in Cartagena, Colombia.

For fans of Searching, the movie follows a similar format – a family member goes missing, a stranger is enlisted as a helpful sidekick, there’s some Googling and hacking, news breaks on TV, TikTok sleuths jump in, and the movie goes sideways with an ending as wack as White Lotus 2.

For two hours, not a moment drags. It’s cheeky, it’s scary, it’s got a lovable Task Rabbit played by Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida who deserves his own series. It’s even got buttoned-up Ken Leung from HBO’s Industry — and then there’s that alien subplot looming in the background.

AI plays a part in both the making of the film and the plot, and Ohanian shared his thoughts with me about it.

The following is a transcript of our conversation which has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Missing, which is a computer screen movie, is being released on Jan. 20, but only in theaters. Why is that?

You know, it just made financial sense to have the initial release in theaters. The first movie, Searching, was a global hit which grossed $75 million theatrically, $20 million in Korea alone. Also, the movie was made to be experienced in a communal setting. As a filmmaker, I always ask the studio to save me a seat at the screenings because I want to see what the audience feels – grabbing onto their seats, the slow dread, the applause. There’s just no substitute for that.

Any plans to bring Missing to streaming?

Yes, Missing will ultimately be released on home media and we put a lot into the world-building to increase re-playability for fans who are into Easter eggs. In the backdrop of Searching, while the father is having the worst five-days of his life trying to find his daughter, if you look closely in the background, there’s all sorts of information about an alien invasion descending upon the planet that he’s oblivious to. That subplot continues in a very unexpected direction in Missing.

How much did it cost to make Missing? Having shot on location in both Los Angeles and Cartagena, were you able to do it for under a million dollars, similar to Searching?

No, definitely not under a million, but I would say not a whole lot more. We did it very economically, that’s one of the appealing things about this as a franchise. For Searching, we were able to make it for under a million ($880,000) and with a very small print and advertising budget.

You and Aneesh Chaganty wrote the screenplay for Searching, but turned to your editors, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, to write the Missing screenplay and direct it. Why?

In 2019, when we got the call from Sony to make the sequel, Aneesh and I were busy with other projects. We had read a spec script that Will and Nick wrote for Paramount and knew they were great writers. So we wrote a three page treatment for Missing from beginning to end, with all of the major beats, character arcs and twists, and gave it to them to support their screenwriting and directorial debuts, while we remained producers.

Missing editors Arielle Zakowski and Austin Keeling spoke with me about how editing tools with AI features like Adobe Premiere Pro are making it possible for anyone to achieve a professional level of cinematic polish for their film projects. Do you agree with that?

The technology is great and I’d love to see more original storytelling come from it, but it’s still really hard to make a compelling film in this computer screen format. We spent a lot of time trying to find ways to make it feel fresh, original, surprising and satisfying, and yet it remains to be seen if it could be done again and again without audiences fatiguing on it.

Does that mean you’re not going to make a series out of it?

Well, we are working on a sci-fi series with Warner Brothers television for HBO Max called The Future that has some of these elements, so we’ll have to see.

AI played an interesting role in Missing, not just in production but also as a character. What are your thoughts about casting ChatGPT in one of your future productions?

As far as ChatGPT is concerned, I love it. In fact, I’ve been feeding it all of your questions and reading back its answers – just kidding! Fans have suggested to me to cast ChatGPT as a catfisher – so you never know.

Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian follows you on Twitter – any relationship?

Haha no, although sometimes I do joke that we’re cousins, but we’re not genetically related, although we have become friends.

What’s next for you?

I have a production company called Proximity Media with Ryan and Zinzi Coogler, producers of Judas and the Black Messiah, Space Jam 2, and soon-to-be released Creed III, and we also have a deal with Disney+ to make the Wakanda series Ironheart for the Marvel Cinematic Universe – so looking forward to that.

And of course, I’m super excited to see how audiences enjoy Missing.