As part of his filmmaking trajectory, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has always stuck close to the sci-fi genre, and that’s the kind of territory where he and Robert Pattinson will be heading, as seen in the teaser for 2024’sMickey 17.
Bong only became a well-known name for mainstream American audiences in 2019, thanks to the massive success of hisBest Picture Academy Award winnerParasite. Yet even before that, he had already directed Westernsci-fiproductions likeSnowpiercerandOkja. This time around the famed director will look to adapt the 2022 sci-fi novelMickey7, written by Edward Ashton, into his biggest English language movie yet.
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There’s not a lot to see in the firstMickey 17teaser posted by Warner Bros. Pictures. The brief 30-second clip merely shows Pattinson’s character waking up in what appears to be some type of high-tech cryo chamber and looking deeply into the camera. That image fits the tone of the book, as the originalMickey7story follows an Expendable, a disposable clone who is assigned dangerous tasks at the human colony on the ice planet of Niflheim but who is revived into a new clone every time he dies, so yes,that sounds like proper sci-fi.
It seems Bong’s adaptation will skip a whole 10 Mickeys, as the title for the movie isMickey 17and not7, like Ashton’s novel. However, given the director’s familiarity with the genre, he may take his fair share of creative liberties as the screenplay writer. It’s been confirmedSquid Gamecomposer Jae-il Jung will pen the score, with previous collaborators in Bong’s work such as editor Yang Jin-mo (Parasite) and costume designer Catherine George (OkjaandSnowpiercer) joining the Plan B Entertainment, Kate Street Picture, and Offscreen, Inc. Production. Actors Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo join Pattinson in supporting roles.
Korean sci-fi movies have a few gemsthat enthusiasts of the genre should check out. However, Bong Joon-ho has always been a noted admirer of more famous works, going as far as to include Goerge Miller’sMad Max: Fury Roadin his top 10 list of the best movies of all time. The country has one of the biggest movie scenes in the world, producing countless fantastic South Korean horror movies.
