Award winning director Bong Joon-ho is back with another mind-bending, soul stirring film with Mickey 17. Starring Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a down-on-his-luck protagonist who dies for his job…literally, Mickey 17 is a science fiction story with Bong’s trademark insightful commentary on society.
It’s not often that a director develops a passionate and devoted following; it takes a special talent to consistently connect with the audiences over multiple projects. But Bong Joon-ho’s incredible work on films like Snowpiercer, Okja and Parasite, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and won Bong the Oscar for Best Director, have earned him legions of fans.
Senior Writer Elijah Johnson had the opportunity to speak with Bong about his highly anticipated upcoming film.
Adapting the Mickey7 Novel to Film
Adapted from the 2022 science fiction novel Mickey7, Bong talked about the elements from the book that intrigued him and addressed some of the changes that he made for the film.
“The concept of human printing is so fascinating from the novel, but I wanted to pull it down to Earth and make it more every day and more direct to our every day life. In the novel, it deals with it in a philosophical and profound way, but I kind of wanted to feel closer to our every day reality,” Bong said through a translator. “At the center of that attempt is the character of Mickey. In the novel he’s sort of this historian, intellectual, but I wanted to make him more working class, a bit dumber, a bit more adorable, more unfortunate, nice and also just too nice for his own good.”
The Central Question of Mickey 17
What makes Bong so unique and beloved is that he tells highly innovative stories with very incisive themes and social commentary. Audiences know that when they sit down to watch a Bong Joon-ho film, it will not only be awe-inspiring, but it will challenge them intellectually to look at the world around them; Mickey 17 is no exception.
“In Snowpiercer, the thing that really prevents people in the tail section [of the train] are the bad guys and the bad system and the structure of the train itself. And in Mickey 17 It’s the bad leaders, the horrible political leaders, like characters played by Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette. They’re kind of like an amalgamation of all the horrible dictators that we have seen throughout history and we see so much hatred and contempt coming out from them,” Bong said through a translator. “And I guess through these set ups, the question I’m asking is, ‘What is repressing us from living a human life? What is stopping us from truly pursuing a genuinely human life?’ And I think the appeal of sci-fi is that it lets you deal with those questions and these stories quite directly.”
Watch the full interview below. Mickey 17 releases March 7th in the United States.
About Mickey 17:
From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, “Mickey 17.” The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.
Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, “Mickey 17” stars Robert Pattinson (“The Batman,” “Tenet”), Naomi Ackie (“Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker”), Academy Award nominee Steven Yeun (“Minari,” “Beef”), with Academy Award nominee Toni Collette (“Hereditary”), and Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”).
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
