The crew of Missing knew it needed something to set it apart from the search

In “Missing,” our protagonist is not a worried father (Cho) finding his feet online, but teenager June (Storm Reid), who is searching for an online friend after her mother Grace (Nia Long) doesn’t return from a Colombian vacation. starts checking. According to Chaganti, it was producer Sev Ohanian who initially thought of the angle to reverse the roles (via Cinema Daily US,

“We realized that there’s a lot of energy and excitement in that approach, because the way a teenager uses a device is completely different from the way John Chow ‘explores’. He was going to foreign lands. Which was the Internet.”

The rhythm of “Missing” is very different from the way it is presented in “Search”, as the new perspective allows for a more scope, We are no longer just connected to a computer screen, but to phones, apps and news reports. It helps that Johnson and Merrick were first-time editors, because they know how to push the boundaries of beauty. Like any teen who uses multiple devices, June’s influx of online presents a greater opportunity to keep up with so many things at once. He is able to think on the fly. “Our hero is a teenager now, so everything is happening so fast, we’re not teaching people anything,” Chaganti says.

With Reed front and center, she becomes a much more relatable figure for young viewers. What we get to know about June during her determined online searches, besides what she doesn’t type, is what makes her an interesting character to follow. In that case, “missing” gives a new name to the digital footprint that most people don’t get to see.

“Missing” is now playing in theaters nationwide.