John Cho on the challenges of making 'Searching': It was like 'Star Trek' times a hundred
If you’re skeptical of a movie that takes place entirely on computer screens, so was Searching star John Cho. The actor, best known for his work in the Harold & Kumar films and Star Trek, initially declined the Aneesh Chaganty-directed thriller, which follows a widower’s frantic search for his missing daughter by following her digital footprints.
“The screen part was something that I didn’t want to do, and didn’t feel like it would be conducive to a good performance, frankly,” Cho told Yahoo Entertainment (watch above) during a recent stop into our studios to promote the film, which debuted to high praise at January’s Sundance Film Festival. “But Aneesh and I met, and he convinced me that we were going to be making a movie, not a YouTube video.”
That Cho filmed most of his scenes in front of a webcam presented the 46-year-old actor with a unique set of challenges. “It was unlike anything I’ve done before in the sense that the movie is in extreme closeup for me, for most of the movie, and there weren’t any other actors in the room,” he said. ” It was a green screen movie for me, it was almost like Star Trek times a hundred, where I have to imagine everything, so that was probably the most difficult part.”
It’s also a far more naturalistic look him in a business that typically glamorizes its performers at every stop.
“Gotta trim the nose hairs,” Cho laughed about the proximity of the webcams to his face. “There’s no room for [vanity]. So I had to get over that.”
Searching opens Friday. Watch the trailer:
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