‘Mickey 17’s Bong Joon Ho Discusses What Robert Pattinson Brought to His Characters

Audiences have been champing on the bit to see how Bong Joon Ho would observe up his Oscar-sweeping masterpiece Parasite. In any case these years, the time has lastly come, and so they received’t be dissatisfied. Enjoying with style and tone very similar to his earlier movies Snowpiercer and Okja, Bong’s Mickey 17 returns his singular imaginative and prescient and humorousness again to theaters worldwide. Alongside for the journey is an S-tier solid to share on this distinctive story of clones, fascism, ice planets, and friendship.

The movie follows Mickey, a disposable clone employee often known as an “expendable,” performed in yet one more career-defining position by Robert Pattinson. Mickey performs ultra-dangerous duties in a human colony on a far-off ice planet with the expectation of demise. Each time he dies, a brand new physique regenerates, and Mickey goes on to the subsequent Sisyphean process. Quickly, a mix-up exposes the pure order of issues, forcing Mickey on an existential journey along with his mates by means of a brutal, unforgiving authorities. The movie co-stars Mark Ruffalo (Poor Issues) and Toni Collette (Juror #2).

Collider’s personal Steve Weintraub was fortunate sufficient to sit down down with director Bong and his translator to speak about all issues Mickey 17. On this interview, they talk about his well-known, fastidious use of storyboards, overcoming the language barrier with an unlimited solid of ultra-talented performers, and a few particulars about his a lot anticipated animated deep-sea epic.

Bong Joon-ho Explains ‘Mickey 17’s Yr-Lengthy Delays

“It was difficult attempting to edit.”

COLLIDER: I need to begin with congratulations. I beloved the film. I believed Robert was so incredible in it. One of many issues in regards to the movie is that it is taken some time for it to come back out, and I do know that there was plenty of work within the edit on this one. I am simply curious when you may speak somewhat bit in regards to the problem of enhancing this.

BONG: My typical course of is storyboarding the movie, capturing just about in keeping with the storyboard, locking image, and having a ultimate output that is not that completely different from what I had storyboarded. With Mickey 17, it was form of the identical course of. The one distinction is simply how a lot VFX was concerned, significantly in direction of the tip of the movie with all of the creepers. There have been plenty of sequences that had been just about full VFX photographs with animation, so it was difficult attempting to edit the movie with these VFX photographs not full and getting the nuance of the tempo all spot on. It concerned plenty of work.

Did you find yourself truly differing out of your storyboards on this? I do know you’re employed very particularly the place you are simply capturing a particular shot in a sequence. I am simply curious if it ended up being precisely what you storyboarded or if it was completely different.

BONG: With Parasite and my different movies, I obsessively put together the storyboards. However on the identical time, I need to break it and escape from what I had deliberate. So there’s at all times that contradiction. It was the identical with Mickey 17. After all, the ultimate output just isn’t mechanically precisely the identical, however I might say greater than 90% of the movie is just about like what I had storyboarded.

Robert Pattinson Helped Bridge the Language Barrier

“He has such a singular and superb linguistic sensibility.”

What did you be taught from this course of that possibly you would like you knew at the start? What did you be taught that you’ll take with you when you make one other English language movie?

BONG: I had a co-writer or dialogue-polishing author for these tasks. Principally I relied closely on the actors regarding the language of the movie. With Mickey 17, it was Rob. I relied closely on Rob. He has such a singular and superb linguistic sensibility. Particularly with Mickey 18, he improvised plenty of actually enjoyable dialogue, plenty of which was probably not scripted.

It was one other nice lesson in realizing that it is advisable work with superb actors to beat, I suppose, what you possibly can name a “linguistic handicap” I’ve, the place it is not my native language. It is working with very trusty actors and in addition an ideal translator like her. Really, she was on the set of Mickey 17. She was at all times in between me and Rob Pattinson and me and Mark Ruffalo. She’s such a artistic translator.

I agree. I need to emphasize how unimaginable Robert is within the film.

Bong Joon-ho’s Animated Movie Options “Very Distinctive CGI”

“It is a actually distinctive story about deep sea creatures that options very lovable creature protagonists.”

I learn that you’re engaged on an animated film. I do not know if that is true. Are you engaged on an animated film? What are you able to inform folks?

BONG: So I’ve been engaged on this animation movie since 2019, and now we have now greater than 100 artists engaged on the movie, and the pipeline is absolutely going. It is a actually distinctive story about deep sea creatures that options very lovable creature protagonists. We even have human characters. It is a very distinctive CGI animated movie, and it is actually going. It is underneath works now. 2027, possibly.

You will have a love of animals which might be in your motion pictures. What’s it that you simply love? I really like animals, and I really like what you do in Mickey 17 and Okja. What’s it about animals that you simply need to characteristic them so closely?

BONG: I really like animals. I’ve a pet. However I feel I am actually excited by how people seem from the animals’ perspective—how pathetic and missing and imply generally you should be from the animals’ perspective.

Mickey 17 is now enjoying in theaters.

Mickey 17

Launch Date

March 25, 2025