#StarringJohnCho. This image released by Sony Pictures shows John Cho in
Screen Gems’ thriller Searching. Cho stars as a father trying to find
his missing teenage daughter. The film has become a late summer must-see
propelled by strong reviews from critics and a warm afterglow following the
successful launch of Crazy Rich Asians. (Sebastian Baron/Sony
Pictures via AP)
From The Asian Reporter, V28, #18 (September 17, 2018), page 13.
Computer-screen thriller Searching transcends its
gimmick
By Lindsey Bahr
AP Film Writer
LOS ANGELES — If you think Searching, a mystery about a father
looking for his missing teenage daughter told only with smartphone and
computer screens, sounds like a gimmick, don’t worry, you’re in good
company. Its star, John Cho, and director and co-writer, Aneesh Chaganty,
thought so too initially. It wasn’t even a new concept. The producer for
Searching was also behind the "screen thriller" Unfriended, and
wanted a follow-up that used the same technique.
But even with its inauspicious beginnings, the film has become a late
summer must-see propelled by strong reviews from critics and a warm
afterglow following the successful launch of Crazy Rich Asians, which
has only bolstered enthusiasm around Searching and its Asian-American
leads.
In its first weekend in limited release, actress Karen Gillan hosted a
free screening of the film. Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu and
star Henry Golding bought out a theater too. It made an impressive $390,000
from nine theaters, according to distributor Screen Gems, and quickly
expanded to 1,200 screens nationwide.
Chaganty laughs now about how he was more than willing to walk away from
a chance to make his first feature just because he didn’t buy into the ploy.
"I like good movies and I want to feel emotional and I don’t want to give
that up to do something just because there’s an opportunity," Chaganty said.
"It was a gimmick. I had seen the other films that took place on screens and
I thought they were gimmicks."
But he and his co-writer and producing partner Sev Ohanian decided to
think about it, and for two months raked their brains for a way in. Then one
day, they hit gold. The film, they decided, would open with a montage
showing a young family of three through the years told in digital photo
albums, videos, and calendar dates. It is a slice of life tearjerker that
has been compared to the opening of Up. And, perhaps most
importantly, it makes you care about David Kim (Cho) and his daughter Margot
(Michelle La).
It’s what got Cho on board, too, who was put to the test in this role.
For the most part, Cho had to act opposite only a blank computer screen and
webcam.
"I don’t know how I did it, I was bumbling my way through it really," Cho
said. "It was weird, it was like acting in a black box ... Several times on
set I was like, ‘Aneesh can we please stop this webcam business and let’s
shoot the third act with a bunch of cameras, real cameras and pop out of it?
Can we please?’"
According to Cho, Chaganty’s response to this was, "John, shut up and
act."
While the concept may have been frustrating to execute, the final product
and story is so seamless it almost makes you forget that you’re watching a
story unfold through screens.
"After I saw the movie for the first time, I (told Aneesh), ‘You have
expanded the vocabulary of cinema, and that is so freaking hard to do,’" Cho
said.
Searching, Cho said, is a kind of bookend to Crazy Rich Asians
and both are necessary for advancing representation in Hollywood movies.
"That’s an Asian specific story and this one isn’t," Cho said. "Those are
two very important things to say. One is, ‘We’re going to tell our stories’
and the other is, ‘Don’t limit what our stories are.’"
Chaganty simply wanted an Asian-American lead, and specifically Cho,
because those are the families he grew up around in San Jose, California,
where the film is set. Other than that, there is no story reason that
necessitates that the lead be any ethnicity.
"I grew up watching movies that I loved that had nothing to do with race
or culture or addressing skin color that just didn’t have people like me in
it. Mission: Impossible, the Bourne movies, the ones that
don’t have anything to do with that," Chaganty said. "We’ve become part of
the conversation because we’re the first ones to do it in a thriller. It’s
insane to me that this is even a conversation. I hope people look back on
this and are like ‘I don’t get how this is racially progressive.’"
The film’s opening and the enthusiasm around it has also made Cho start
to reflect on progress. The 46-year-old Korean-American actor’s name became
its own social media movement in 2016 when a tech-savvy man, William Yu,
started photoshopping Cho into movie posters for Hollywood blockbusters like
Spectre along with the hashtag #StarringJohnCho.
"I’ve been asked so much about it and it’s kind of awkward. The common
question is, ‘Did it work?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know!’ In a way, I was
thinking it didn’t work because they were like, ‘Oh he’s supposed to be
Captain America’ or something in these big tent-pole movies. And while I
really appreciated that sentiment, I’m not in any of these franchises. I’ve
got my own, but I’m not in any of those," Cho said.
And yet, he also sees a silver lining. The two movies he’s starred in
since #StarringJohnCho, Columbus and Searching, were directed
by Asian Americans and found their own grassroots success.
"It’s an incredible story about what the people can will to be," Cho
said.
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