Mickey 17 is a movie nerd's dream come true. Following his Kurt Cobain-inspired turn in The Batman, Robert Pattinson is firmly back in his “one-for-me” bag. The actor leads Bong Joon-ho's next feature, Mickey 17, the South Korean auteur's much-anticipated follow-up to Best Picture winner Parasite, and his first English-language film since 2017's Okja. Two filmmakers known and loved for bringing arthouse sensibilities to the mainstream – and for lighting up film Twitter – it sounds like a match made in heaven, and now we have further details and a compelling teaser for the dystopian thriller.
A teaser for the high-anticipated film has now been released and much like Parasite, Joon-Ho's use of classical music brings some unsettling high drama to the proceedings. The video, just half a minute long, was shared on Twitter on Monday, and shows a shirtless Pattinson in some sort of futuristic blue-lit body chamber. Violin strings become increasingly frantic as the camera pans around him. Eyes-closed and zen-looking, the actor looks to be asleep or in a deep state of rest at least, until his eyes snap open. What could it all mean?
What is Mickey 17 about?
Well, the film sounds just as weird and intriguing as you might expect from this pair. Mickey 17 is a dystopian sci-fi based on the novel of the same name by Edward Ashton about an “expendable” space-traveller who is sent on a borderline-suicidal mission to colonise the ice world Niflheim. Publisher St. Martin Press describes the novel as a high-concept cerebral thriller in the vein of The Martian and Dark Matter. When one Mickey dies, another is cloned in his place with most of his memories intact, so he is technically immortal, in the worst way possible. But when this particular mission goes wrong, Mickey7 is presumed dead and Mickey8 is brought to life. Expendable doubles are not welcome, meaning they have to work together if they both want to survive. On top of this, the colonisation takes a turn for the worse, leaving the fate of civilisation in the hands of the Mickeys. So, basically Dostoevsky in space? I mean, why not.
Who is starring in it?
Back in May, the news that R-Patz would lead the Korean auteur's next flick sent film Twitter into overdrive at the thought of what the arthouse collaboration might yield. Pattinson plays the aforementioned, space-travelling Mickey that the story follows on his mission. Whether the fact that there are clones of Mickey made as soon as one dies means that we'll see multiple versions of him – as was the case in Christopher Nolan film Tenet – is yet to be seen.
The rest of the cast includes the Hulk himself Mark Ruffalo, Star Wars actress Naomi Ackie and, fresh off recent wins in both Minari and Nope, Steven Yeun. Plus, we have Toni Collette, and given how much she excels in genre movies (see: Knives Out, Hereditary, Nightmare Alley) we cannot wait to see what Bong will get from her.
What else do we know?
Despite being based on Edward Ashton's novel Mickey7, the film has a new name with Mickey 17. As with his beloved previous film Parasite, the director has also written the script, meaning he's sure to add in some twists and turns in adapting the story to give it his own spin.
Like Bong's 2017 film Okja, Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment are behind the film, with Pitt himself is producing. In recent years the production company have become an award season machine, responsible for films including Moonlight, The Big Short and Minari to name a few.
When will it be in cinemas?
Sadly R-Patz fans have a long wait ahead of them. The film now has an official release date of 29th March 2024, as revealed in the teaser.
