Bong Joon Ho Reveals His “Life Goal” & The Genre That Makes Him “A Little Scared” At ‘Mickey 17’ Press Conference With Robert Pattinson — Berlin Film Festival
Director Bong Joon Ho, actor Robert Pattinson and fellow cast members were on hand today in Berlin to introduce the German premiere of their new sci-fi Mickey 17.
Adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 sci-fi novel of ‘Mickey 7’, Mickey 17 revolves around a directionless man living in a near future who signs up for a job as an “expendable”, or disposable employee sent on dangerous missions who is automatically regenerated if he perishes on the job. Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also star.
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Pattinson said it was “incredible” to work with Bong who he described as “a master”: “Bong is a Mount Rushmore director for me”, he noted. Oscar nominee Colette added that it was the first time in her career she had said yes to a movie before even reading the script.
Bong’s first feature since his 2019 Cannes Palme d’Or and quadruple Oscar winner Parasite, the sci-fi drama has been a long time coming, with the shoot having wrapped in December 2022.
Bong acknowledged the film marks his first love story. “I want to make films of all genres,” the director disclosed. “That’s my life goal…even if I’m a little scared of musicals.”
Talking about his inspirations, Bong said: “I draw my inspiration from many sources. Even looking at your faces, I get many ideas. As a writer-director, I’m constantly writing in my head.”
Pattinson said the experience of filming scenes in which there are different versions of himself could be “quite jarring” but also that there was “much satisfaction” in “fitting pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle…it was fun and really interesting to see the final product.”
He added that he only recently realized he based his Mickey 17 accent off Steve Buscemi’s Fargo character: “I kind of did it by accident”, he laughed.
Pic is theatrically releasing in Korea on February 28, followed by March 7 in the U.S. by Warner Bros.
“The script seems deceptively simple at first,” Pattinson said at a Korean press event last month. “But then when you try to break down Mickey’s mentality, this guy who has zero self-confidence but somehow doesn’t feel sorry for himself, it gets complicated really quickly. I ended up thinking of him as this poorly trained dog who needs to die 17 times to finally learn something.”
He added at the same event that the set had the feel of “giant Star Wars” production and revealed that he and the rest of the cast had been intrigued by Bong’s directing style in which he got his actors to deliver one or two lines at a time.
Bong said at the same event that the film is more than “just” a sci-fi movie. “It’s about humanity. The story of Mickey revolves around an ordinary powerless and vulnerable young man.”
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