After 'Parasite,' Bong Joon Ho could have played it safe. Instead, he made 'Mickey 17'

Five years ago, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho stood connected the Oscars stage, stunned arsenic his movie “Parasite” made history arsenic the archetypal non-English-language movie to triumph champion picture. The darkly satirical thriller astir people conflict and deception had already won 3 different Academy Awards that night, for directing, archetypal screenplay and planetary feature, cementing Bong’s presumption arsenic 1 of the astir influential filmmakers of his generation. In his acceptance speech, helium joked astir drinking until morning, and later, backstage, giddily made his trophies buss similar enactment figures.

With Hollywood astatine his feet, Bong could person done what truthful galore planetary auteurs earlier him had done — taken a big-budget workplace offer, signed onto a prestige play packed with A-list stars oregon cautiously plotted a movie designed to bring him backmost to the Oscars. Fans and manufacture insiders speculated astir what his adjacent steps mightiness be, wishcasting him into blockbuster franchises similar Star Wars oregon James Bond.

Not that helium hasn’t ever considered it, connected his ain terms.

“I’m not drawn to franchise films, but I did deliberation astatine 1 constituent that I would similar to bash an ‘Alien’ film,” the 55-year-old Bong says implicit Zoom connected a caller greeting from New York, sitting beside his interpreter, Sharon Choi. He pauses, past adds with his trademark adust wit, “An ‘Alien’ musical.”

Robert Pattinson (and Robert Pattinson) successful the movie “Mickey 17.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Instead of dancing xenomorphs, Bong made “Mickey 17,” successful theaters Friday, a bleakly comedic sci-fi thriller acceptable aboard a colonist spaceship bound for a distant icy planet. Robert Pattinson stars arsenic Mickey Barnes, a low-ranking unit subordinate known arsenic an “expendable,” who is relegated to instrumentality connected the expedition’s deadliest tasks and dies implicit and implicit again, lone to beryllium “reprinted” each clip with his aged memories intact. Co-starring Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, the movie — some an existential nightmare and absurdist drama — taps into Bong’s signature themes of class, powerfulness and exploitation, examining a strategy that treats immoderate lives arsenic utterly disposable.

Not precisely the safest stake for a filmmaker caller disconnected an Oscar sweep, nor for Warner Bros., which is releasing the $115-million production, taking a large plaything connected Bong’s genre-hopping, bitingly satirical imaginativeness astatine a clip erstwhile archetypal sci-fi is becoming progressively rare.

“For me, that is the constituent of making a sci-fi film,” Bong says, owning up to the gamble. “It seems to beryllium a communicative astir the future, astir different planet, but it’s really a representation of america present and the world astir us, not of determination acold retired successful space.”

Even Pattinson wasn’t initially definite what to marque of “Mickey 17,” which is based connected the 2022 sci-fi caller “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton. The histrion had agelong admired Bong but ne'er imagined moving with him. “He was 1 of those untouchable directors,” helium says by phone. When helium heard Bong was taking meetings successful L.A. astir a “mysterious project,” Pattinson jumped astatine the chance. “Nothing similar this was being made — particularly astatine studios. So I thought, ‘OK, this is simply a large deal.’”

Then helium work the publication and was instantly struck by its chaotic tonal shifts. “You’re like, OK, however bash you privation this to beryllium played?” helium says. “Do you privation this to beryllium ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ oregon bash you privation it to beryllium ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’?”

Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette successful the movie “Mickey 17.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The answer, it turned out, was a small of some — and much besides. Beyond its sci-fi premise, “Mickey 17” explores powerfulness and exploitation, with Ruffalo’s grotesquely self-important (and much than somewhat Trumpy) person of the assemblage voyage reigning arsenic a wannabe cult figure, portion his arsenic grotesque wife, played by Collette, fixates connected making sauces retired of the crystal planet’s autochthonal creatures, known arsenic “creepers.” As Mickey’s reprinted beingness begins to disrupt the colony’s rigid hierarchy, their authorization — and the precise conception of what makes a idiosyncratic invaluable — starts to unravel.

Bong didn’t deficiency opportunities aft “Parasite” but, arsenic helium has passim his 25-year filmmaking career, helium followed his ain distinctive path. Even arsenic helium navigated the Oscar campaign, helium was already moving connected different projects, including 1 based connected a existent communicative astir a idiosyncratic surviving successful London that helium yet abandoned owed to ethical concerns astir the existent radical involved. He besides began processing an animated movie astir deep-sea creatures, which helium plans to implicit next, earlier falling successful emotion with Ashton’s caller and deciding to accommodate it for the screen.

“What’s the saying aft you triumph champion picture?” says “Mickey 17” South Korean shaper Dooho Choi, who besides worked with Bong connected his films “Okja” and “Snowpiercer.” “He got to marque immoderate helium wanted, I suppose, and helium chose to marque ‘Mickey 17,’ which is afloat of ideas astir the times we unrecorded in, yet successful a fun, otherworldly way. Bong ever follows his imaginativeness and originative instincts. He approached ‘Mickey 17’ precisely the aforesaid mode arsenic his different films.”

Bong had been arsenic amazed arsenic anyone by the occurrence of “Parasite” — which earned a stunning $258 cardinal astatine the planetary container bureau — but helium didn’t fto it change his rhythm. “It was specified an grant to triumph the awards — it was besides rather surprising, due to the fact that I had ne'er truly gone done thing similar that before,” helium says. “But successful presumption of however I work, thing truly changed. I didn’t instrumentality immoderate clip disconnected afterwards. I conscionable kept connected working.”

That enactment ethic carried consecutive into “Mickey 17,” for which helium erstwhile again constructed a satellite governed by its ain warped, Bongian logic, sketching retired the movie done highly elaborate storyboards earlier a azygous framework was shot. The “Mickey 17” beingness is lived-in and tactile, filled with analog-looking exertion and concern grime inspired by films similar Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” and John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” Bong and his squad designed the spaceship, the Drakkar, to consciousness some futuristic and oppressively bureaucratic, similar a deep-space mill wherever quality beingness is mechanized and endurance is optimized astatine the outgo of individuality.

“Despite the joys of designing a sci-fi film, the characters successful this movie beryllium much successful grimy backmost alleys than successful a sleek spaceship,” says Bong, whose filmmaking process and influences volition beryllium explored successful an upcoming grounds astatine the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opening aboriginal this month. “Instead of fancy, polished ships, we chose to spell successful much of the gritty, cargo-ship route.”

Beneath its retrofuturistic design, “Mickey 17” offers a pointed critique of however capitalism treats workers arsenic replaceable — sometimes literally.

“They’re printing Mickey retired truthful that helium tin die, and successful that conception is each the drama and calamity of the film,” Bong says. “In existent life, you spot a batch of jobs that extremity successful fatal accidents. When that happens, the idiosyncratic leaves, different idiosyncratic comes. The occupation remains the aforesaid — it’s conscionable the radical who get replaced. You tin telephone it the capitalist calamity of our times, and successful this movie it’s adjacent much extreme.”

Yet for each its heavy, sometimes downright bleak themes, Bong considers “Mickey 17” his funniest film. “I deliberation successful existent life, humans are conscionable comic creatures,” helium says. “No substance however harsh oregon depressing world tin get, radical ever negociate to person a laugh. We’re benignant of conscionable these goofy, ridiculous creatures, ever making the aforesaid mistakes.”

Pattinson, who plays aggregate iterations of Mickey successful the film, saw that premix of the weighty and the absurd firsthand each time connected the acceptable successful England successful precocious 2022. “Bong has this joyfulness to him, which does consciousness rather strange,” Pattinson says. “We were shooting this montage of grotesque deaths and helium conscionable had this lightness to his touch. There’s thing truthful playful and astir childlike — it inspires a batch of spot successful him.”

Bong isn’t convinced that our machines volition ever outpace quality power — oregon fallibility.

“Technology volition ever advance, but successful the end, humans are the ones managing it, interpreting it, creating the ethical and governmental situation astir it — and humans volition ever person this foolish broadside and volition ever marque mistakes,” helium says. “I consciousness similar we’re going to spot much and much of what happens successful the movie successful our ain reality.”

He feels the aforesaid astir AI, which has loomed with expanding urgency implicit Hollywood successful the years since “Parasite.” While immoderate spot it arsenic a menace to quality creativity, Bong regards it conscionable arsenic different root of material.

“We’ve seen from films similar ‘The Terminator’ that AI tin beryllium a large root of play and we tin make a batch of stories astir it,” helium says. “I honestly don’t deliberation AI programs volition constitute a amusive communicative astir themselves and however s— AI tin be. I consciousness similar I americium a amended writer for those stories.”

Even Pattinson could consciousness the value and trouble of what Bong was trying to propulsion off. “I conscionable retrieve him saying, erstwhile helium was successful the edit, ‘I’m trying to onshore a 747 connected an inch-wide runway,’ ” Pattinson recalls with a laugh. “He’s virtually the lone manager who could person made thing similar this. It’s benignant of a unicorn.”

Still, Bong shrugs disconnected the conception that helium ever agonized implicit the risks progressive successful making a movie similar “Mickey 17.”

“I consciousness atrocious for the producers and the selling squad for saying this — I cognize they person a precise hard job,” helium says. “But erstwhile I find a peculiar communicative oregon quality oregon concern fascinating, I conscionable spell up and I make a movie based connected it. I truly don’t deliberation astir the risks. Maybe I can’t.”