The first teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated sci-fi film “Mickey17,” directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Robert Pattinson, was revealed on April 9 at the CinemaCon 2024. And the first reactions suggest that the title will be leaning more towards comedy than originally expected.
Both Pattinson and Bong Joon-ho were at the conference, in which they raved about each other. “I’ve been the biggest fan of Bong for many years. He’s my hero,” the actor said about the Oscar-winning director. “I read the script and I thought it was one of the most funny, bizarre scripts I’ve read in my life,” he added.
Meanwhile, the filmmaker said that Pattinson, 37, and who recently became a dad, was the perfect casting choice for the movie due to the “crazy glint in his eyes.” While footage from the first teaser won’t be revealed to the public yet, here’s what has been reported.
‘Mickey17,’ a sci-fi epic with comedic flair
The film is based on Edward Ashton’s book “Mickey7.” The novel revolves around an “expendable” employee assigned to a mission to colonize a new world. Despite being considered disposable, he rebels against the idea of being replaced by his clone.
Bong Joon-ho revealed at the CinemaCon 2024 that he renamed the movie “Mickey17” because he kills Pattinson’s character 10 more times than in the novel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first trailer opens with Robert Pattinson’s character losing a hand and then dying and being “reprinted” several times. The footage shows Mark Ruffalo’s character declaring that those multiple versions must be “exterminated.”
Apart from the first images, a talking point of the teaser was Pattinson’s voice. According to Variety’s Matt Donelly, the actor is “doing this accent that’s like Joe Pesci as Tweety Bird, or that incredible Funny or Die skit ‘Ryan Gosling’s Acting Range.’”
The rest of the cast includes Toni Colette, Naomi Ackie, and Steven Yeun. Ruffalo plays a “dictator,” according to the director. Produced by Warner Bros. the film has been delayed twice, and it’s now going to be released on January 31, 2025.
