The new big screen thriller “Missing” may be a different viewing experience than many moviegoers are used to — in the best way possible.

The film, which follows Reid’s character June trying to find her mother (Long) who has gone missing while on vacation with her boyfriend (Ken Leung), takes place across multiple computer and phone screens. The format and presentation is similar to “Missing’s” 2018 predecessor “Searching,” starring John Cho and Michelle La. The 2018 film was directed by Aneesh Chaganty and written by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian. Chaganty and Ohanian wrote the story for “Missing,” which is written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson.

A Story Told Through Many Different Windows On A Screen

With June using every mode of technology available, audiences are given an over-the-shoulder view of the videos, online articles and messages June utilizes to save her mother from danger. As she dives deeper into her mother’s disappearance, her digital detective work results in questions than answers and she learns secrets about her mother and their past.

But the amount of technology and screens meant new challenges for Long and Reid.

“It was very challenging, something that wasn’t normal because we filmed the entire movie basically through a computer screen,” Reid told us in a recent interview. “So having to be emotional and be in the moment while also having to follow all of these eyelines and if June gets a notification she has to look up to the right corner of the screen–it was just a lot. But once I got use to the technological challenges that I had, it became a lot of fun.”

Getting Used To A New Type Of Filming

Long also said that the filming was “super-challenging” in a healthy, fun way, but did force her to get around a learning curve.

“There were days when I felt completely lost and confused. I didn’t know where to look, I didn’t know where to stand,” she added. “I consider myself a pretty technical actor, so I’m very aware of where the camera is and where the light is, what the scene is about and then you lock in and do it. But for most of the movie, everything was kind of done from a different perspective, from someone looking in to what was happening. so that was tough, it was not easy.”

The trick for Long was to rethink her relationship with the tech that was helping tell the story.

“I started to make friends with the idea that all of these different devices served as additional characters and once I leaned into that, it kind of freed me to trust the process and not worry so much about what I should be doing versus what I needed to do to tell the story. It’s cool,” she said.

For more information on “Missing” please visit www.Missing.movie. 

“Missing” hits theaters on Friday, Jan. 20.