If you watched 2018’s thriller movieSearching, you know that—much like in real life—there was a lot of stuff going on on-screen during the story. Not only because that’s where movies are watched, but also because the movie itself features screens throughout from beginning to end. The story has a desperate father going through every possible device in order to find clues that might reveal the whereabouts of his missing daughter. However, as Collider sat down to talk toSev OhanianandAneesh Chaganty, the writers who came up with the story forSearching’s spiritual sequelMissing, as well as screenwriters and directorsWill MerrickandNick Johnson, they revealed that we might have missed more than we think the first time around.
Missing, which premiered back in January, plays out in much the same way asSearchingall whilecommenting on the true crime obsessionof the internet. A girl goes through several devices, logs on to e-mails, watches videos, hacks into clouds and calls people via video conference in order to find her missing mother after the woman goes on a trip to Colombia with a mysterious man.In an interview with our ownPerri Nemiroffprior to the film’s release, Merrick revealed there are “hundreds" of things to keep an eye on, and Chaganty underscored the statement:
“I feel like we approached Easter eggs totally differently. With the first film, one of the things we were so excited about was how much excitement there was about all the little words in the back on Google Chrome or when you type in a search bar, all the little drop-downs. And from the beginning, we were like, ‘Okay, Easter eggs [are] a huge element of this movie.’ Sev wrote a whole storyline on his own that is fully in the film, maybe a sequel to the alien storyline that’s in ‘Searching,and [to directors and screenwriters Merrick and Johnson] these guys did a massive amount.”
RELATED:‘Missing’ Review: Storm Reid Tries to Find Her Mom in Exciting Techno-Mystery
Connections BetweenSearchingandMissingExplained
By aliens, Chaganty is talking abouta whole subplot that takes place in the background ofSearching.As David (John Cho) searches the internet, he comes across forums, comment sections, and social media posts in which people are seemingly discussing an alien invasion. That conceptreturns in a major wayinMissing, playing around with the aftermath of the subplot to create a new story for keen-eyed viewers to piece together. Ohanian explained it best, and teased how that storyline follows up on the original:
“In the background of [the first] movie, on the sides of the screen with the comments and the news articles and the tweets, there’s an event happening, and that event is an alien invasion. Did anyone know this? I’m curious. So if you guys ever get a chance to re-watch this movie, which you will on January 20th in theaters everywhere, watch closely because you might find out what happened with those aliens. I’ll just say that.”
The cast ofMissingfeaturesStorm Reid,Joaquim de Almeida,Ken Leung,Amy Landecker,Daniel Henney, andNia Long.Missingis available tostream now on Netflix. You can watch the full Q&A below:
