TALK ABOUT MICKEY 17

Bong Joon Ho Unveils Irreverent First Trailer for Robert Pattinson Starrer ‘Mickey 17’

The sci-fi feature centers on a man who dies (over and over and over).

The first trailer for Bong Joon Ho's upcoming film Mickey 17, which explores human printing, identity, and space colonisation, showcased the many sides of Robert Pattinson.

The director describes the film as the tale of "a simple man who ultimately ends up saving the world," and Bong made his first trip to CinemaCon to unveil the trailer.

Based on Edward Ashton's novel Mickey 7, Mickey 17 tells the story of Mickey 7, a space colonist who is referred to as an expendable—someone who performs the most hazardous work for the colony and frequently dies in the process, only to be revived via the use of human printing technology. The seventh iteration of a man named Mickey Barnes serves as the novel's protagonist; however, in the film, that number has been increased.

"That is the total number of times he passes away. To the audience's laughter, Bong remarked, "I killed him ten times more." "Though it's a science fiction film, it's a human story."

Not shown outside the room, the trailer featured Frank Sinatra as the theme music, which brought lightness to some pretty graphic scenes like Mickey losing a hand and getting thrown alive into liquid metal (with his permission).

Given that Mickey 17 is Bong's follow-up to the best picture-winning Parasite, there has been a lot of curiosity surrounding it, but it has taken some time for a first look to surface. Postproduction setbacks caused the movie's original release date of March 2024 to be rescheduled to January 31, 2025. This release date caught people off guard because it does not position Oscar winner Bong's most recent work as a contender. Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Naomie Ackie, and Mark Ruffalo are also featured in the movie.

As the lead in The Batman and its upcoming sequel, Pattinson, a Warners partner, referred to Bong's script as "one of the funniest, bizarre sci-fi scripts I've ever read in my life."

Although Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 are genetically identical, Pattinson gave them distinct traits. In essence, Pattinson plays two characters. While Mickey 18, who is "out of control," is more like "playing an evil brother," Mickey 17, he claims, is beaten down by life and is content to be a member of a team.