March 28, 2023 • 33 mins
'Missing' is an exciting new crime-thriller movie produced by Sony Pictures. Rasha and Yvette sit down with Directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson to talk about the film's unique creative direction. 'Missing' is out on Blu-Ray today (March 28), and is also available digitally on Amazon Prime Video.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Alloha, everyone, Welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rascha Paccarero.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And I'm Evett Gentile. Today I am so excited to
bring you a special conversation with two incredible filmmakers, Will
Merrick and Nick Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
That's right, they are the co directors for the new
movie Missing, starring Nia long Storm, Read, joaquim Dale, Meira
and many more. It's a wild, edge of your seat
thriller with so many twist and turns you will not
see them coming, I promise you. We had the absolute
(01:04):
pleasure and honor of getting to see the movie early,
and we got invited to speak with the phenomenal directors
of the film.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
In fact, I even got to attend the premiere in
San Francisco, which was amazing. But anyway, we loved this movie,
and we loved even more talking with Will and Nick.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely, and before we dive right into it, you should
know that the official Blu ray release of Missing is
out today March twenty eighth. It features so much bonus content,
including Easter eggs which I personally love, deleted scenes, and
so much more. So go to the store, order it online,
(01:47):
grab it off a shelf, or you can even find
the movie digitally and without further ado. Let's meet Will
Merrick and Nick Johnson.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Hey, thank you, that's awesome to.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh my god. And I also have to give a
shout out to Katie at Sony Pictures because she's the
one who sent Russian and I an email saying, hey,
you know, would you guys be interested in going to
the screening or the premiere in LA And we were like,
oh my god, we'd love to go, but we're not
going to be able to make it to LA. And
she goes, well, there's one in San Francisco, and I'm like,
(02:22):
that's perfect. So I actually went to the Alamo Draft
House to watch your movie, which was it's an epic
theater in the Mission District, but to watch your film
on the big screen was fantastic. So we have to
give a shout out to Katie. Thank you Katie.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, yes, I know, And I got to watch it
on my iPhone because I was flying to San Francisco
to join my sister. But then that was like the day,
the day that Missing premiered was the day that like
the FAA like shut everything down for a few hours,
so I couldn't fly, right, I couldn't fly from Portland
(03:00):
San Francisco. But it was almost kind of yeah, but
it was almost kind of epic that I got to
watch it. I put it on my ring light, I
flipped it over, and I just watched.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
The movie is good everywhere. It's good in the theater
because it's good to react with people, but it's kind
of cool at home too because it's on computers, so
it feels voyeuristic. I guess, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
First you're like, okay, computers, like on the screen, like
am I gonna be into this? So fascinating, Like you
didn't stop just waiting for what's to happen next.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
So that's definitely always been like the we joke that
like at every step of the way, even even us,
we had that reaction when Aniche first pitched us the
idea for searching it's just like, how can this be good?
Speaker 6 (03:46):
But I think that's also.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I think I think that's the fun of it, is
that like we are taking something that inherently shouldn't be entertaining,
like a Google translation shouldn't be entertaining, or going through
Google accounts should not be you know, entertaining, but we're
trying to turn it into big cinematics at pieces. So yeah,
I think I think that's that's the fun of it.
So thank you and for going to the Almo draft US.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
That's so cool. It was a really unique premiere and
it's amazing to hear that you you went.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Did you see that live live stream of US and
Nia and Storm all?
Speaker 7 (04:20):
We did?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
My husband, Gina and I stayed after and listened to, yeah,
the live stream and saw you guys there with Nia,
you know Nia long and Storm read. I mean it
was it was epic, like so epic. Yeah, she was
on facing evil. Like we always like to ask all
of our guests like what led you to this career,
(04:41):
like how did you get to this particular journey? And
I guess I'll start with you Nick first, Why don't
you tell us?
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (04:47):
So, I think, like all of us that work on
uh worked on this movie in particular me will seven
Niche and Natalie, our producers. I grew up loving just
watching movies and also watching a lot of behind the scenes,
you know. I remember watching the Pirates of the Caribbean
Blu Ray feature making of and being like, Oh, that's
(05:09):
so cool. And so I started making movies with my
cousins and then my friends. When I was in middle
school and then in high school, I had a lot
of really great teachers that taught film in class, not
just like lazy, like I don't want to do anything today,
so I'll put on a movie, but pop films as
almost like you would a great novel. And so you know,
(05:30):
I was turned on to like Baz Luhrman and Cohen
Brothers and started to appreciate film.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
More as like an art form.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
And I think that combination of like big budget blockbuster
storytelling of Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with appreciating like
the tours of the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson,
I think is kind of what led me then to
USC and ultimately to work with everyone.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I think a very similar story. I mean, we all
have this kind of path where we became obsessed as
little kids. Me and my sister made videos where we
would fight like we were in Star Wars or something
all over like the Ynca or something. And I think
I just realized early on that that when my family
watched them, they'd all be like having a great time,
like watching this thing we put together. And then I
(06:13):
got in theater in high school and recruited all those
kids to be in stuff, and at the cast party
we would show the stuff we made, and I think
just watching everybody react and have a good time watching
these things made me obsessed with creating movies and you know,
just any kind of cinematic form. And then USC worked
(06:33):
out and it came to LA and the rest was history.
It's fun to just do what I was obsessed with
as a teenager still as an adult.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And did you guys go to school together?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But we never met?
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Yeah, exactly we So.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Will's two years younger than I am, and our path
was kind of strange because I was in the same
year as a niche who directed the first movie, and
I kind of.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
Was like a DP at the time.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I didn't really edit much at USC, and then when
I graduated, I kind of started editing more trailers and
than my friends' movies like will if you want to
tell your side of that of that path.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I became an editor quickly at USC because I'm from
like a small town in North Carolina. So I mastered
the editing because that was the only way I could
make something good. It turned into it invaluable skill when
I went to college and Adiche and Sev needed an
editor for a sort of like a Google spec commercial
they were doing while I was still an undergrad, and
(07:36):
an editing professor recommended me, and I guess they liked
working with me because then they brought me back for
the movie we did Searching, which this movie is a
spiritual successor too. And then Nick and I met at
a coffee bean halfway between our houses and we talked
for about twenty minutes, and then we worked together for
the next ten years and it's been great.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So it's been ten years, so that not quite I.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Guess, but I know.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
Years, six years, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Six years going on a decade. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I love the dynamic that the two of you have
because I feel like just watching Missing and knowing your
involvement in Searching and the path that you both were
on at USC and everything you've just shared with us,
you almost seem like you are siblings and you become
family doing this right.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah. Somebody came came to us on one of the
shoot days and said, I've never worked with twins before.
We were like, oh wow, not just siblings, twins.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
We did to be fair to them.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
We had masks on because it was during COVID, so
we did so we're obscured. So you know, it's plausible
that we're siblings.
Speaker 6 (08:46):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, yeah, Well, for our listeners that can't see you
right now like we can, you're both very very handsome
young men, but you definitely look related.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I can see why they would make the mistake when you.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Spend I think a lot of time with someone as
we have, like we just for the last six years
really have been seen each other almost every day and
in rooms just going stir crazy. We've developed like a
secondhand language I think with each other that is sibling esque.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
When we were in the trenches trying to finish missing
and I like looked out the wind and I was like,
do you ever feel that all this just world is
just so just like And it was like, I know
exactly what you mean, say it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I already know are Yeah, this is the question that
(09:55):
I really want to ask. So there was Searching, was
it Searching Run? Then Missing?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Is it a trilogy or is it not?
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Not really? Not really?
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Yeah, So I would say Run Run is not in
the same format, and I would say Missing was always
developed as like a sequel to Searching. That's how we
thought of it. We call it searching too. For the
longest time, we knew that we wanted it to work
operate on its own, but we had always kind of
seen it as like the standalone sequel to Searching. Run
(10:30):
doesn't really share any similarities to either too, other than
we have like an obsession with Easter eggs and like
content like these threadlines, and so they do exist in
the same universe seven a niche cinematic universe, whatever that is.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
When you watch Missing, you're looking at a world where
the events of Run actually did take place, but as
movies they're not related.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Gotcha, But I you know, one of the things that
I noticed, like the mother in each film is like
the star so to speak. You know, everything is surrounded
by that. Is that a personal choice by a Niche
or by you guys, can you share a little bit
about that.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I mean, all three movies do really have family kind
of at their core, and that was present. I mean,
Searching was all about family, and to us that was
as much a core part of the story as it
being told on computer screens. It has to be about
family and how sort of your connection with family is
(11:32):
still central to your life even with technology, and so
that was given to us in the treatment by a
Niche and Sev for this movie. So they came up
with that, but we wouldn't have done it any different
ourselves if we could have.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Like if you ever meet Sev or a Niche, like,
family is such a massive part of their lives. They
love their family so much and they've got really strong
ties with their families and their siblings. Just knowing the
films that Aniche made at USC they always had this
(12:05):
tremendous heart to them. So I think that's something that
Aniche has always been interested in and wanted to do.
So I think that's how that's made its way into
the core of these movies.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I think the part that really resonated with me and
Nick as well. I know because we've talked about it
is just the idea that this movie kind of reflects
how when you're growing up you learn to understand who
your parents are as people in a deeper way. When
you're a kid, they're just your parent, and then when
you grow up you see them as a more nuanced person.
And it was really cool that in the story from
(12:37):
its inception here that's kind of at the core of
the mystery.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Without giving anything away, I was so struck by the
relationship between Nia's character and Storm's character and between other
family characters in the film, and I could not stop crying.
I was crying because I got triggered in bad ways
and in good ways, and I think that's where the
(13:02):
two of you were going with it, and you were
given this beautiful, beautiful platform, and I have to just
thank you because I'm the scaredy cat. I'm the one
that can't watch it, Like my sister watched it first
since I missed the screening, and I saw it the
next day and I'm like, can I handle it? Am
I gonna be able to handle it? She's like, You're okay,
but you're going to be triggered. Like what did it take?
(13:22):
You went from being editors together on Searching. How did
that conversation go where they were like, all right, we
want you to direct Missing.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It was quite a leap.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It took a leap of faith, I think on seven
and Niche and Natalie's part, on Sony's part as well,
and on all the actors part, because again we didn't
have any real directorial experience to point to or draw on.
I think the good thing was that because Searching was
such a post heavy movie, and we were brought on
(13:55):
before there was even a script. Really there was just
a treatment, so we were used to kind of developing
and workshopping, kind of pseudo helping write something like this,
and we had developed the language from the very beginning,
the visual language, so Will and I were very.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Confident that we could do this again.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
We knew exactly how to make it, and I think
that gave everyone else the confidence that these guys know
how to do this. And then I think when it
came time to actually to write it, we had previous
experience dealing with Seven A Niche.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
And they knew how we thought.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
They knew like our notes on story and how we
thought about story and structure and characters, so they were
confident we had the ability to do that, And we
had actually been hired to do something for Paramount before
this actually as writers, and so Will and I had
already done that and had demonstrated that we had the
(14:51):
ability to carry a project to fruition or to a script,
and so that also, I think gave everyone the confidence
that we could do that. So yeah, I was definitely
leap for us personally, But I think as we got going,
we started to become a little bit more confident, like, no, like,
we know exactly how to make this, to the point
where by the time we got to set, we knew
exactly the shots that we needed and it felt kind
(15:13):
of natural to just to be.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Doing that are organic, m You know, when I went
to the screening here in San Francisco, and I stayed afterwards,
you know, for the Q and A, and I remember
and Neo was saying, like, you're gonna do what? Like,
how are we going to shoot this?
Speaker 4 (15:29):
You know, Cornia really had to trust us, right, but she.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Sure did, She really did, and she was so you know,
gratefully like surprised and how it turned out, and like
she said, it was the best one of the best
experiences of her life. How do you feel about her
saying that, you know, Nia long like my all time
favorite love Jones, Like, come on.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
She's a lled legends right. Yes, it's crazy that we
crossed paths with hers. It's so interesting to think about
and that she was one of the later people that
we casked. And I just love so much that she's
in this movie because she's just the perfect person to
play Storm's mom for one thing, and just you just
got to watch the movie you'll see why.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
The thing about Nia is if you've ever met Nia
or seen her in interviews, she has a motherly warmth
to her, like she in some ways. I remember her
talking to me about like something in my life and
like she felt like a mom to me and will
sometimes you know. And she had that relationship with Storm
off camera as well.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
I think she.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Sees Storm as being like a young version of her
almost in a weird way, like she can see you know,
when Nia started, I think she was she was like
pretty young when she was she was starting out, so
she has a lot of experience there. One thing that
a lot of our actors have described, and I know
John Joe described this on Searching, is that everyone has
(16:55):
to like relearn their jobs.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Everyone is relearning how to act.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Like when you you are just sitting in front of
a screen and looking around, and in Nia's case, you know,
there would be times where there'd just be one camera,
like she said, like fifteen twenty feet away, and.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
It's like, wait a minute, where's my coverage? Where am
I looking at? What's my eyeline?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
It's almost like you're blocking a stage play or something.
And then you're just asking everyone, the actors, the studio
execs who are at Video Village. You're asking everyone, Hey,
it's gonna look kind of weird at Video Village, and
it's gonna be this.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
Big wide trust us, like, please just trust us.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
When we're going to be creating coverage and cutting in
and it's gonna look okay. And I think like that
took a lot of risk on all of our actors' parts,
especially someone as established and experience as Nia. But one
of the most rewarding things was when she first saw
the movie and she like liked it. It was such
a relief because it was like, thank you for trusting us,
(17:55):
And I'm so.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Glad we pulled it off because we were asking a
lot of them.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I think, yeah, just have to ask you guys, like,
(18:24):
with all the technology, does this stuff really work? Is
it going to solve cases?
Speaker 4 (18:30):
It has? I think a couple of times we're sort
of morally agnostic about technology. I guess where we're kind
of in awe of its power, but we don't know
if it's good or bad. I think what makes this
and Searching cool is is we really wanted to commit
to the idea that this could really happen. Like we're
(18:51):
past nineties kind of hacker boop boop kind of computer movies,
and we're where the cool thing is everything in this movie.
There might be a couple little less important moments in
this movie where where we stretch, like how easy it
would be to guess somebody's password, for instance, but not
by much. It's all it all could happen. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Also, when you make a a movie that takes place
entirely on devices technology, whereas in the nineties, technology was
a plot device or just a way to get from
point A to point B.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
In our movie, technology is our set.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
It's where the movie takes place, and so you owe
the audience a higher degree of versamilitude.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
And I think when we were writing the movie.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
It was always about Okay, let me pull up my
Google account and see how I would actually do this
if I was in this situation. For the most part,
we really tried to not bend those rules and try
to keep it really grounded, so I know, like also,
when we were writing the movie, we were listening to
true crime podcasts. We were listening to a lot of
real cases and researching real cases and seeing how in
(20:03):
a modern day things are solved, and so we wanted
to always be respectful to like those victims and never
really like incite them in the movie or anything.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
We don't want to like draw any more attention to
those families.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
But I think we were definitely aware that this stuff
that technology has used and used that as inspiration as
well sometimes.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
And it's cool because June is eighteen years old and
she's like better than the than the police in some way,
is it, yeah, because of this Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And Storm is such an incredible actress. We haven't had
the opportunity, you know, to work with her or meet
her yet, but we're really close to Chris Pine, who
played her father, and that was just as plausible to me,
you know, Chris being her dad as Nia being you
know her mom, and it just I'm one degree away
from Nia. Long and storm reasons to you, Will and Nick,
(20:57):
thank you. You know my sister and I or both
you know, huge movie buffs and love the history of
it and we love being on set. I would love
to know, Well, let's start with you, and then I'd
love to know, Nick, what was your absolute favorite part
about being on set? I know that you only re
you know, you were filming for what like twenty some
days and then editing for two three years, But I
(21:20):
want to know what was that most magical moment like
on set for you.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I think my favorite part about being on set was
just after working so much to just get any little
project off the ground, as when we were kind of
beginning to try to make movies, and seeing how hard
all that was, just to show up and see all
these people who were so great at their jobs and
see this whole kind of machine come into place to
(21:48):
make something happen, and seeing everybody work toward the same goal,
it was honestly kind of overwhelming. At first, it was like,
what are we doing directing this thing with all these
trailers and stuff pulled up? But it was just really
cool to just work with all the people.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Really, I think my favorite part on set was probably
seeing the actors bring nuance and life to the characters,
because I think we had been writing alone in isolation
during the pandemic in our own respective houses for so long,
and then we had cut an animatic of the movie
(22:23):
which was just me and Will like performing very poorly
all the lines, and it.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Just had no life to it at all.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And then all of a sudden, coming on set and
seeing Nia or Storm or Joachime who plays Hobby come
in and breathe life into these roles, and all of
a sudden you realize some of those things that you
had written actually do have like a lot of humanity
to them or emotion underneath that we had just kind
of become numb to while writing. I think that was
(22:55):
one of the coolest things, was to see all that
stuff come to life.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And Joe Achim, oh my god, he was my heart.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
I mean everyone kind of has seen him in something,
you know. I Will and I were really familiar with
him from I Love twenty four growing up me too,
so he was in twenty four, but he's in Desperado.
I mean, he's just He's had such an incredible career.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
He trained with Lee Strasberg, He's trained with Stella Adler.
He is a legend.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
He's just been around for so long, and it was
really incredible to get to know him and see how
he works. He is a truly phenomenal, world class actor.
I hope that, like I want to continue seeing him
and stuff and roles that aren't just like the bad
guy that he seems to always be. He's such a
sweetheart in real life. He was perfect for the role
(23:46):
and I have such deep admiration for him as an
actor as like a craftsman, and.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I love him in Storm, how they interact and you know.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
The oh my god, you know, the two of them,
they're never in the same scene physical right, They weren't
in the same room.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
Ever when we were shooting.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
And one really great thing that that Joakim and Storm
wanted to do was be there for each other when
they were doing their scenes. So Joaquim, you know, came
to La to read with her during her scenes, and
then likewise, Storm called in when we were shooting in
Colombia to perform all of her scenes with him. And
and that's why that works. It is because they were
(24:26):
able to see each other, see how they're going.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
To act, and then real chemistry.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
They were very gracious as actors, you know, basically donate
their time and and make sure you know, they had
a scene partner.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
I don't think it would have worked without that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
What would you tell like young writers and directors that
are coming up that are you know, pounding the pavement
wanting to get their their script, you know, scene or
what advice would would both of you give, you know, I.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Think you really have to love the act of doing it.
I think one of my favorite film as David Lynch.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Oh we know met him personally, personal hero of mine.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
His song is the theme song for our previous podcast,
Root of Evil.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
We both loved him.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
I love his music, I love everything he does.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
But he always talks about like the act of like
doing of like he just loves doing, loves making things.
And I always think about that spirit of just making
things that if you love it enough, then all the
work that you have to put in to make it,
because you have to put in a lot of work
to make it.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
In this industry.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Will and I were doing literally sixteen hour days on searching,
coming home, sleeping waking up, going back to the office,
and we did that for an extended period of time.
We were very young, you're still very young on missing
we were grinding at the office and working literally twenty
four to seven. I'd come home, I'd log into my
computer and continue working, and I would be miserable if
(25:55):
I didn't love doing the thing, you know what I mean.
I think Will and I both just love making movies.
We love writing, we love working in after effects, you know,
we love we love the act of doing these things.
So I think the number one thing is if you
gotta love to do it, If you don't love doing it,
if what you want to do is just be a
(26:17):
filmmaker or go to a premiere, like, you're gonna be
kind of miserable because you're gonna have put in a
lot of work in the interim to get there.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
So I think that's one major thing.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
And I think also when you're setting out to craft
stories or tell something, I think it really helps.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
I had a screenwriter tell me that.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
To use corners of yourself as the way she put it,
so you're not always making a biographical, you know, piece
or whatever. But I think it's really important to find
little true corners of yourself, little things that you can
relate to. So, for instance, in this movie, Will and
I both have sisters, and we love our sisters.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
We love our moms.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
We drew a lot on like just how emotionally we
feel about our sisters and how we serve our sisters
and our moms interacting with each other. So it's important
to always find those corners of yourself and find those
capital t truth moments like for instance, a Niche, a
Niche came up with the voicemails beat, which I won't
(27:14):
I won't tell anyone what happens to avoid spoilers, but
that's a really emotional moment and that came from him
just listening to voicemails.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
From his mom. So I think audiences can tell those
things when you put something that's really truthful to yourself.
So if you're starting out writing or whatever, I think
look for those things that you're like, wow, that really
feels really true.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
And emotional, like how do I put this into a
into into something.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yes, those are both great advice.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, well, every episode of Facing Evil. So we are
Hawaiian born and raised in Hawaii, and the word emoa
means to move onward and upward right or but really,
especially for us doing facing evil, it's about finding the
light in the dark right or overcoming or healing. I
(28:02):
would love to know what was the emil for you?
And if you don't want to say what it was
for you, what do you think it would be for
your audience who hasn't watched Missing yet? And again I'm
going to say this till the Cows come Home. You
can own it on digital March seventh or on Blue
Way March twenty eight.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
We were starting to write this movie the week COVID hit,
and I think trying to create the movie through that
and doing a lot of work without our team around
that we usually you know, without being able to see
each other or see all the people we were working with,
really sort of made me at least realize how much
I need those people around me in order to function normally.
(28:44):
And seeing them slowly come back was one good thing,
but also just learning to be more mindful and appreciative
of people, and to understand that it's always good to
appreciate what's good about people as much as you possible
we can, even in a stressful situation like some of
this was getting through with COVID.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with that wholeheartedly, and I
think to bring it back to the movie as well. Specifically,
that is what June's journey is is like through all
of this. Part of the fun of this movie is
it's a detective mystery where she's looking for her mom,
but at the same time, there's this other layer of
she's finding out who her mom is and learning to
appreciate her for who she is, and learning that in
(29:29):
the time of darkness and in this time of like
like I've lost my mom and I'm losing you know,
like someone I love, you actually learn how much you
do love that person, how much you appreciate them.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
And neither of them will ever ever give up. Neither
of them would will ever let the other one go
as long as they can do something.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's the power of the film.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
That is the power of the film. And you know,
when I left the theater that night, I was so emotional,
you know, for so many different reasons, but it was
the power of staying connected.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We would love to give you this opportunity, of course again,
we know March seventh, It's on digital and Blu ray.
On March twenty eighth. But what's next for the two
of you. Please tell me you're still working together, and
please tell our listeners where they can find you and
of course find Missing of course.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yeah, so Will and I are definitely still working together.
We hope to work together indefinitely going forward. And I
think we also love working with Sevenisha and Natalie and
they've got some projects going on that we may be
a part of as well. In terms of Missing, like
you said, you can find it on Blu ray and
I just want to plug that some Blu rays come
(30:46):
out where they have like special features. These special features
we've seen them are like really good. Like if I
were if I were a viewer, like I'd be really
excited for these special features. That kid and me that
got gets to watch all those like behind the scenes,
this is like the one where it's really worth checking out.
So and then in terms of where to find us,
(31:06):
we're both mostly on Instagram. So my Instagram's at Underscore
Nick D Johnson and Will what's your Instagram?
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And I'm Will dot Marek.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, for me personally, it's just been the ultimate honor
having you both on facing Evil. You both are just brilliant,
like deeply grounded human beings that I know you're going
to do kill it. You're going to continue to kill it.
Missing was fantastic on every single level. So I can't
(31:39):
wait for what's next. So mahalo nui looa for being
here with us.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
This was like a real joy meeting you and talking
about the movie.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Yeah, this was really fun. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Hey, you guys are great. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Well, that's our show for today. We hope you enjoyed
this discussion with Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, directors of
the new movie Missing. The movie is now available digitally
and on Blu Ray release out today.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
We always love to hear what you think, so find
us on social media or email us at facingevilpod at
tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And one small request if you haven't already, please find
us on iTunes and give us a good rating and review.
If you like what we do, your support is always cherished.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Until next time, Aloha.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero and a Vet Gentile.
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(33:14):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Carolyn Talmadge.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at Facing Evil pod at
tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(33:38):
to your favorite shows
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Alloha, everyone, Welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rascha Paccarero.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And I'm Evett Gentile. Today I am so excited to
bring you a special conversation with two incredible filmmakers, Will
Merrick and Nick Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
That's right, they are the co directors for the new
movie Missing, starring Nia long Storm, Read, joaquim Dale, Meira
and many more. It's a wild, edge of your seat
thriller with so many twist and turns you will not
see them coming, I promise you. We had the absolute
(01:04):
pleasure and honor of getting to see the movie early,
and we got invited to speak with the phenomenal directors
of the film.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
In fact, I even got to attend the premiere in
San Francisco, which was amazing. But anyway, we loved this movie,
and we loved even more talking with Will and Nick.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely, and before we dive right into it, you should
know that the official Blu ray release of Missing is
out today March twenty eighth. It features so much bonus content,
including Easter eggs which I personally love, deleted scenes, and
so much more. So go to the store, order it online,
(01:47):
grab it off a shelf, or you can even find
the movie digitally and without further ado. Let's meet Will
Merrick and Nick Johnson.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Hey, thank you, that's awesome to.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh my god. And I also have to give a
shout out to Katie at Sony Pictures because she's the
one who sent Russian and I an email saying, hey,
you know, would you guys be interested in going to
the screening or the premiere in LA And we were like,
oh my god, we'd love to go, but we're not
going to be able to make it to LA. And
she goes, well, there's one in San Francisco, and I'm like,
(02:22):
that's perfect. So I actually went to the Alamo Draft
House to watch your movie, which was it's an epic
theater in the Mission District, but to watch your film
on the big screen was fantastic. So we have to
give a shout out to Katie. Thank you Katie.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, yes, I know, And I got to watch it
on my iPhone because I was flying to San Francisco
to join my sister. But then that was like the day,
the day that Missing premiered was the day that like
the FAA like shut everything down for a few hours,
so I couldn't fly, right, I couldn't fly from Portland
(03:00):
San Francisco. But it was almost kind of yeah, but
it was almost kind of epic that I got to
watch it. I put it on my ring light, I
flipped it over, and I just watched.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
The movie is good everywhere. It's good in the theater
because it's good to react with people, but it's kind
of cool at home too because it's on computers, so
it feels voyeuristic. I guess, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
First you're like, okay, computers, like on the screen, like
am I gonna be into this? So fascinating, Like you
didn't stop just waiting for what's to happen next.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
So that's definitely always been like the we joke that
like at every step of the way, even even us,
we had that reaction when Aniche first pitched us the
idea for searching it's just like, how can this be good?
Speaker 6 (03:46):
But I think that's also.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I think I think that's the fun of it, is
that like we are taking something that inherently shouldn't be entertaining,
like a Google translation shouldn't be entertaining, or going through
Google accounts should not be you know, entertaining, but we're
trying to turn it into big cinematics at pieces. So yeah,
I think I think that's that's the fun of it.
So thank you and for going to the Almo draft US.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
That's so cool. It was a really unique premiere and
it's amazing to hear that you you went.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Did you see that live live stream of US and
Nia and Storm all?
Speaker 7 (04:20):
We did?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
My husband, Gina and I stayed after and listened to, yeah,
the live stream and saw you guys there with Nia,
you know Nia long and Storm read. I mean it
was it was epic, like so epic. Yeah, she was
on facing evil. Like we always like to ask all
of our guests like what led you to this career,
(04:41):
like how did you get to this particular journey? And
I guess I'll start with you Nick first, Why don't
you tell us?
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (04:47):
So, I think, like all of us that work on
uh worked on this movie in particular me will seven
Niche and Natalie, our producers. I grew up loving just
watching movies and also watching a lot of behind the scenes,
you know. I remember watching the Pirates of the Caribbean
Blu Ray feature making of and being like, Oh, that's
(05:09):
so cool. And so I started making movies with my
cousins and then my friends. When I was in middle
school and then in high school, I had a lot
of really great teachers that taught film in class, not
just like lazy, like I don't want to do anything today,
so I'll put on a movie, but pop films as
almost like you would a great novel. And so you know,
(05:30):
I was turned on to like Baz Luhrman and Cohen
Brothers and started to appreciate film.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
More as like an art form.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
And I think that combination of like big budget blockbuster
storytelling of Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with appreciating like
the tours of the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson,
I think is kind of what led me then to
USC and ultimately to work with everyone.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I think a very similar story. I mean, we all
have this kind of path where we became obsessed as
little kids. Me and my sister made videos where we
would fight like we were in Star Wars or something
all over like the Ynca or something. And I think
I just realized early on that that when my family
watched them, they'd all be like having a great time,
like watching this thing we put together. And then I
(06:13):
got in theater in high school and recruited all those
kids to be in stuff, and at the cast party
we would show the stuff we made, and I think
just watching everybody react and have a good time watching
these things made me obsessed with creating movies and you know,
just any kind of cinematic form. And then USC worked
(06:33):
out and it came to LA and the rest was history.
It's fun to just do what I was obsessed with
as a teenager still as an adult.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And did you guys go to school together?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But we never met?
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Yeah, exactly we So.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Will's two years younger than I am, and our path
was kind of strange because I was in the same
year as a niche who directed the first movie, and
I kind of.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
Was like a DP at the time.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I didn't really edit much at USC, and then when
I graduated, I kind of started editing more trailers and
than my friends' movies like will if you want to
tell your side of that of that path.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I became an editor quickly at USC because I'm from
like a small town in North Carolina. So I mastered
the editing because that was the only way I could
make something good. It turned into it invaluable skill when
I went to college and Adiche and Sev needed an
editor for a sort of like a Google spec commercial
they were doing while I was still an undergrad, and
(07:36):
an editing professor recommended me, and I guess they liked
working with me because then they brought me back for
the movie we did Searching, which this movie is a
spiritual successor too. And then Nick and I met at
a coffee bean halfway between our houses and we talked
for about twenty minutes, and then we worked together for
the next ten years and it's been great.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So it's been ten years, so that not quite I.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Guess, but I know.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
Years, six years, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Six years going on a decade. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I love the dynamic that the two of you have
because I feel like just watching Missing and knowing your
involvement in Searching and the path that you both were
on at USC and everything you've just shared with us,
you almost seem like you are siblings and you become
family doing this right.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah. Somebody came came to us on one of the
shoot days and said, I've never worked with twins before.
We were like, oh wow, not just siblings, twins.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
We did to be fair to them.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
We had masks on because it was during COVID, so
we did so we're obscured. So you know, it's plausible
that we're siblings.
Speaker 6 (08:46):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, yeah, Well, for our listeners that can't see you
right now like we can, you're both very very handsome
young men, but you definitely look related.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I can see why they would make the mistake when you.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Spend I think a lot of time with someone as
we have, like we just for the last six years
really have been seen each other almost every day and
in rooms just going stir crazy. We've developed like a
secondhand language I think with each other that is sibling esque.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
When we were in the trenches trying to finish missing
and I like looked out the wind and I was like,
do you ever feel that all this just world is
just so just like And it was like, I know
exactly what you mean, say it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I already know are Yeah, this is the question that
(09:55):
I really want to ask. So there was Searching, was
it Searching Run? Then Missing?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Is it a trilogy or is it not?
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Not really? Not really?
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Yeah, So I would say Run Run is not in
the same format, and I would say Missing was always
developed as like a sequel to Searching. That's how we
thought of it. We call it searching too. For the
longest time, we knew that we wanted it to work
operate on its own, but we had always kind of
seen it as like the standalone sequel to Searching. Run
(10:30):
doesn't really share any similarities to either too, other than
we have like an obsession with Easter eggs and like
content like these threadlines, and so they do exist in
the same universe seven a niche cinematic universe, whatever that is.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
When you watch Missing, you're looking at a world where
the events of Run actually did take place, but as
movies they're not related.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Gotcha, But I you know, one of the things that
I noticed, like the mother in each film is like
the star so to speak. You know, everything is surrounded
by that. Is that a personal choice by a Niche
or by you guys, can you share a little bit
about that.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I mean, all three movies do really have family kind
of at their core, and that was present. I mean,
Searching was all about family, and to us that was
as much a core part of the story as it
being told on computer screens. It has to be about
family and how sort of your connection with family is
(11:32):
still central to your life even with technology, and so
that was given to us in the treatment by a
Niche and Sev for this movie. So they came up
with that, but we wouldn't have done it any different
ourselves if we could have.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Like if you ever meet Sev or a Niche, like,
family is such a massive part of their lives. They
love their family so much and they've got really strong
ties with their families and their siblings. Just knowing the
films that Aniche made at USC they always had this
(12:05):
tremendous heart to them. So I think that's something that
Aniche has always been interested in and wanted to do.
So I think that's how that's made its way into
the core of these movies.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I think the part that really resonated with me and
Nick as well. I know because we've talked about it
is just the idea that this movie kind of reflects
how when you're growing up you learn to understand who
your parents are as people in a deeper way. When
you're a kid, they're just your parent, and then when
you grow up you see them as a more nuanced person.
And it was really cool that in the story from
(12:37):
its inception here that's kind of at the core of
the mystery.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Without giving anything away, I was so struck by the
relationship between Nia's character and Storm's character and between other
family characters in the film, and I could not stop crying.
I was crying because I got triggered in bad ways
and in good ways, and I think that's where the
(13:02):
two of you were going with it, and you were
given this beautiful, beautiful platform, and I have to just
thank you because I'm the scaredy cat. I'm the one
that can't watch it, Like my sister watched it first
since I missed the screening, and I saw it the
next day and I'm like, can I handle it? Am
I gonna be able to handle it? She's like, You're okay,
but you're going to be triggered. Like what did it take?
(13:22):
You went from being editors together on Searching. How did
that conversation go where they were like, all right, we
want you to direct Missing.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It was quite a leap.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It took a leap of faith, I think on seven
and Niche and Natalie's part, on Sony's part as well,
and on all the actors part, because again we didn't
have any real directorial experience to point to or draw on.
I think the good thing was that because Searching was
such a post heavy movie, and we were brought on
(13:55):
before there was even a script. Really there was just
a treatment, so we were used to kind of developing
and workshopping, kind of pseudo helping write something like this,
and we had developed the language from the very beginning,
the visual language, so Will and I were very.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Confident that we could do this again.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
We knew exactly how to make it, and I think
that gave everyone else the confidence that these guys know
how to do this. And then I think when it
came time to actually to write it, we had previous
experience dealing with Seven A Niche.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
And they knew how we thought.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
They knew like our notes on story and how we
thought about story and structure and characters, so they were
confident we had the ability to do that, And we
had actually been hired to do something for Paramount before
this actually as writers, and so Will and I had
already done that and had demonstrated that we had the
(14:51):
ability to carry a project to fruition or to a script,
and so that also, I think gave everyone the confidence
that we could do that. So yeah, I was definitely
leap for us personally, But I think as we got going,
we started to become a little bit more confident, like, no, like,
we know exactly how to make this, to the point
where by the time we got to set, we knew
exactly the shots that we needed and it felt kind
(15:13):
of natural to just to be.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Doing that are organic, m You know, when I went
to the screening here in San Francisco, and I stayed afterwards,
you know, for the Q and A, and I remember
and Neo was saying, like, you're gonna do what? Like,
how are we going to shoot this?
Speaker 4 (15:29):
You know, Cornia really had to trust us, right, but she.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Sure did, She really did, and she was so you know,
gratefully like surprised and how it turned out, and like
she said, it was the best one of the best
experiences of her life. How do you feel about her
saying that, you know, Nia long like my all time
favorite love Jones, Like, come on.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
She's a lled legends right. Yes, it's crazy that we
crossed paths with hers. It's so interesting to think about
and that she was one of the later people that
we casked. And I just love so much that she's
in this movie because she's just the perfect person to
play Storm's mom for one thing, and just you just
got to watch the movie you'll see why.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
The thing about Nia is if you've ever met Nia
or seen her in interviews, she has a motherly warmth
to her, like she in some ways. I remember her
talking to me about like something in my life and
like she felt like a mom to me and will
sometimes you know. And she had that relationship with Storm
off camera as well.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
I think she.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Sees Storm as being like a young version of her
almost in a weird way, like she can see you know,
when Nia started, I think she was she was like
pretty young when she was she was starting out, so
she has a lot of experience there. One thing that
a lot of our actors have described, and I know
John Joe described this on Searching, is that everyone has
(16:55):
to like relearn their jobs.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Everyone is relearning how to act.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Like when you you are just sitting in front of
a screen and looking around, and in Nia's case, you know,
there would be times where there'd just be one camera,
like she said, like fifteen twenty feet away, and.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
It's like, wait a minute, where's my coverage? Where am
I looking at? What's my eyeline?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
It's almost like you're blocking a stage play or something.
And then you're just asking everyone, the actors, the studio
execs who are at Video Village. You're asking everyone, Hey,
it's gonna look kind of weird at Video Village, and
it's gonna be this.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
Big wide trust us, like, please just trust us.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
When we're going to be creating coverage and cutting in
and it's gonna look okay. And I think like that
took a lot of risk on all of our actors' parts,
especially someone as established and experience as Nia. But one
of the most rewarding things was when she first saw
the movie and she like liked it. It was such
a relief because it was like, thank you for trusting us,
(17:55):
And I'm so.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Glad we pulled it off because we were asking a
lot of them.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I think, yeah, just have to ask you guys, like,
(18:24):
with all the technology, does this stuff really work? Is
it going to solve cases?
Speaker 4 (18:30):
It has? I think a couple of times we're sort
of morally agnostic about technology. I guess where we're kind
of in awe of its power, but we don't know
if it's good or bad. I think what makes this
and Searching cool is is we really wanted to commit
to the idea that this could really happen. Like we're
(18:51):
past nineties kind of hacker boop boop kind of computer movies,
and we're where the cool thing is everything in this movie.
There might be a couple little less important moments in
this movie where where we stretch, like how easy it
would be to guess somebody's password, for instance, but not
by much. It's all it all could happen. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Also, when you make a a movie that takes place
entirely on devices technology, whereas in the nineties, technology was
a plot device or just a way to get from
point A to point B.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
In our movie, technology is our set.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
It's where the movie takes place, and so you owe
the audience a higher degree of versamilitude.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
And I think when we were writing the movie.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
It was always about Okay, let me pull up my
Google account and see how I would actually do this
if I was in this situation. For the most part,
we really tried to not bend those rules and try
to keep it really grounded, so I know, like also,
when we were writing the movie, we were listening to
true crime podcasts. We were listening to a lot of
real cases and researching real cases and seeing how in
(20:03):
a modern day things are solved, and so we wanted
to always be respectful to like those victims and never
really like incite them in the movie or anything.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
We don't want to like draw any more attention to
those families.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
But I think we were definitely aware that this stuff
that technology has used and used that as inspiration as
well sometimes.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
And it's cool because June is eighteen years old and
she's like better than the than the police in some way,
is it, yeah, because of this Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And Storm is such an incredible actress. We haven't had
the opportunity, you know, to work with her or meet
her yet, but we're really close to Chris Pine, who
played her father, and that was just as plausible to me,
you know, Chris being her dad as Nia being you
know her mom, and it just I'm one degree away
from Nia. Long and storm reasons to you, Will and Nick,
(20:57):
thank you. You know my sister and I or both
you know, huge movie buffs and love the history of
it and we love being on set. I would love
to know, Well, let's start with you, and then I'd
love to know, Nick, what was your absolute favorite part
about being on set? I know that you only re
you know, you were filming for what like twenty some
days and then editing for two three years, But I
(21:20):
want to know what was that most magical moment like
on set for you.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I think my favorite part about being on set was
just after working so much to just get any little
project off the ground, as when we were kind of
beginning to try to make movies, and seeing how hard
all that was, just to show up and see all
these people who were so great at their jobs and
see this whole kind of machine come into place to
(21:48):
make something happen, and seeing everybody work toward the same goal,
it was honestly kind of overwhelming. At first, it was like,
what are we doing directing this thing with all these
trailers and stuff pulled up? But it was just really
cool to just work with all the people.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Really, I think my favorite part on set was probably
seeing the actors bring nuance and life to the characters,
because I think we had been writing alone in isolation
during the pandemic in our own respective houses for so long,
and then we had cut an animatic of the movie
(22:23):
which was just me and Will like performing very poorly
all the lines, and it.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Just had no life to it at all.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And then all of a sudden, coming on set and
seeing Nia or Storm or Joachime who plays Hobby come
in and breathe life into these roles, and all of
a sudden you realize some of those things that you
had written actually do have like a lot of humanity
to them or emotion underneath that we had just kind
of become numb to while writing. I think that was
(22:55):
one of the coolest things, was to see all that
stuff come to life.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And Joe Achim, oh my god, he was my heart.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
I mean everyone kind of has seen him in something,
you know. I Will and I were really familiar with
him from I Love twenty four growing up me too,
so he was in twenty four, but he's in Desperado.
I mean, he's just He's had such an incredible career.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
He trained with Lee Strasberg, He's trained with Stella Adler.
He is a legend.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
He's just been around for so long, and it was
really incredible to get to know him and see how
he works. He is a truly phenomenal, world class actor.
I hope that, like I want to continue seeing him
and stuff and roles that aren't just like the bad
guy that he seems to always be. He's such a
sweetheart in real life. He was perfect for the role
(23:46):
and I have such deep admiration for him as an
actor as like a craftsman, and.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I love him in Storm, how they interact and you know.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
The oh my god, you know, the two of them,
they're never in the same scene physical right, They weren't
in the same room.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
Ever when we were shooting.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
And one really great thing that that Joakim and Storm
wanted to do was be there for each other when
they were doing their scenes. So Joaquim, you know, came
to La to read with her during her scenes, and
then likewise, Storm called in when we were shooting in
Colombia to perform all of her scenes with him. And
and that's why that works. It is because they were
(24:26):
able to see each other, see how they're going.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
To act, and then real chemistry.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
They were very gracious as actors, you know, basically donate
their time and and make sure you know, they had
a scene partner.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
I don't think it would have worked without that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
What would you tell like young writers and directors that
are coming up that are you know, pounding the pavement
wanting to get their their script, you know, scene or
what advice would would both of you give, you know, I.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Think you really have to love the act of doing it.
I think one of my favorite film as David Lynch.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Oh we know met him personally, personal hero of mine.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
His song is the theme song for our previous podcast,
Root of Evil.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
We both loved him.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
I love his music, I love everything he does.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
But he always talks about like the act of like
doing of like he just loves doing, loves making things.
And I always think about that spirit of just making
things that if you love it enough, then all the
work that you have to put in to make it,
because you have to put in a lot of work
to make it.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
In this industry.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Will and I were doing literally sixteen hour days on searching,
coming home, sleeping waking up, going back to the office,
and we did that for an extended period of time.
We were very young, you're still very young on missing
we were grinding at the office and working literally twenty
four to seven. I'd come home, I'd log into my
computer and continue working, and I would be miserable if
(25:55):
I didn't love doing the thing, you know what I mean.
I think Will and I both just love making movies.
We love writing, we love working in after effects, you know,
we love we love the act of doing these things.
So I think the number one thing is if you
gotta love to do it, If you don't love doing it,
if what you want to do is just be a
(26:17):
filmmaker or go to a premiere, like, you're gonna be
kind of miserable because you're gonna have put in a
lot of work in the interim to get there.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
So I think that's one major thing.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
And I think also when you're setting out to craft
stories or tell something, I think it really helps.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
I had a screenwriter tell me that.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
To use corners of yourself as the way she put it,
so you're not always making a biographical, you know, piece
or whatever. But I think it's really important to find
little true corners of yourself, little things that you can
relate to. So, for instance, in this movie, Will and
I both have sisters, and we love our sisters.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
We love our moms.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
We drew a lot on like just how emotionally we
feel about our sisters and how we serve our sisters
and our moms interacting with each other. So it's important
to always find those corners of yourself and find those
capital t truth moments like for instance, a Niche, a
Niche came up with the voicemails beat, which I won't
(27:14):
I won't tell anyone what happens to avoid spoilers, but
that's a really emotional moment and that came from him
just listening to voicemails.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
From his mom. So I think audiences can tell those
things when you put something that's really truthful to yourself.
So if you're starting out writing or whatever, I think
look for those things that you're like, wow, that really
feels really true.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
And emotional, like how do I put this into a
into into something.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yes, those are both great advice.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, well, every episode of Facing Evil. So we are
Hawaiian born and raised in Hawaii, and the word emoa
means to move onward and upward right or but really,
especially for us doing facing evil, it's about finding the
light in the dark right or overcoming or healing. I
(28:02):
would love to know what was the emil for you?
And if you don't want to say what it was
for you, what do you think it would be for
your audience who hasn't watched Missing yet? And again I'm
going to say this till the Cows come Home. You
can own it on digital March seventh or on Blue
Way March twenty eight.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
We were starting to write this movie the week COVID hit,
and I think trying to create the movie through that
and doing a lot of work without our team around
that we usually you know, without being able to see
each other or see all the people we were working with,
really sort of made me at least realize how much
I need those people around me in order to function normally.
(28:44):
And seeing them slowly come back was one good thing,
but also just learning to be more mindful and appreciative
of people, and to understand that it's always good to
appreciate what's good about people as much as you possible
we can, even in a stressful situation like some of
this was getting through with COVID.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with that wholeheartedly, and I
think to bring it back to the movie as well. Specifically,
that is what June's journey is is like through all
of this. Part of the fun of this movie is
it's a detective mystery where she's looking for her mom,
but at the same time, there's this other layer of
she's finding out who her mom is and learning to
appreciate her for who she is, and learning that in
(29:29):
the time of darkness and in this time of like
like I've lost my mom and I'm losing you know,
like someone I love, you actually learn how much you
do love that person, how much you appreciate them.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
And neither of them will ever ever give up. Neither
of them would will ever let the other one go
as long as they can do something.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's the power of the film.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
That is the power of the film. And you know,
when I left the theater that night, I was so emotional,
you know, for so many different reasons, but it was
the power of staying connected.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We would love to give you this opportunity, of course again,
we know March seventh, It's on digital and Blu ray.
On March twenty eighth. But what's next for the two
of you. Please tell me you're still working together, and
please tell our listeners where they can find you and
of course find Missing of course.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yeah, so Will and I are definitely still working together.
We hope to work together indefinitely going forward. And I
think we also love working with Sevenisha and Natalie and
they've got some projects going on that we may be
a part of as well. In terms of Missing, like
you said, you can find it on Blu ray and
I just want to plug that some Blu rays come
(30:46):
out where they have like special features. These special features
we've seen them are like really good. Like if I
were if I were a viewer, like I'd be really
excited for these special features. That kid and me that
got gets to watch all those like behind the scenes,
this is like the one where it's really worth checking out.
So and then in terms of where to find us,
(31:06):
we're both mostly on Instagram. So my Instagram's at Underscore
Nick D Johnson and Will what's your Instagram?
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And I'm Will dot Marek.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, for me personally, it's just been the ultimate honor
having you both on facing Evil. You both are just brilliant,
like deeply grounded human beings that I know you're going
to do kill it. You're going to continue to kill it.
Missing was fantastic on every single level. So I can't
(31:39):
wait for what's next. So mahalo nui looa for being
here with us.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
This was like a real joy meeting you and talking
about the movie.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Yeah, this was really fun. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Hey, you guys are great. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Well, that's our show for today. We hope you enjoyed
this discussion with Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, directors of
the new movie Missing. The movie is now available digitally
and on Blu Ray release out today.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
We always love to hear what you think, so find
us on social media or email us at facingevilpod at
tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And one small request if you haven't already, please find
us on iTunes and give us a good rating and review.
If you like what we do, your support is always cherished.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Until next time, Aloha.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero and a Vet Gentile.
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(33:14):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Carolyn Talmadge.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at Facing Evil pod at
tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(33:38):
to your favorite shows
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com