Bong Joon-Ho Knows Mickey 17 Reflects Our World, Toni Collette And Naomi Ackie Know How To Survive It [Exclusive Interview] – SlashFilm

After Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” took home four Academy Awards in 2020 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film), becoming the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture and the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award recognition in the process, film fans everywhere were on pins and needles wondering what was next for Director Bong. The answer came in 2022 when it was announced he was adapting the then-yet-to-be-published novel “Mickey 7,” a sci-fi black comedy about a man named Mickey Barnes who enlists to become an “expendable,” or a person who dies again, and again, and again, in the line of work — with a new human printed copy created each day with his memories intact.

The result is what I firmly believe is Director Bong’s best English-language film yet, and a scathing, in-your-face indictment of the way egotistical politicians and capitalism will be the death of us all. “Mickey 17” is as subtle as a sledgehammer, but perfectly in line with all of his works thus far. While human printing (thankfully) does not exist, and we’ve not attempted to colonize another planet at the behest of a cult-like political figure coasting off of bigoted belief systems and a cult-like following (yet, ugh), Director Bong’s latest plays out as both a satire and a warning of what’s to come if we’re not careful. He’s no stranger to walking a tonal highwire, with moments of existential horror coexisting alongside over-the-top camp villainy, and he and his cast knew that mixture was vital to the film’s effectiveness.

I was honored and privileged to speak with Director Bong (along with longtime interpreter and filmmaker/dialect coach Sharon Choi) as well as stars Toni Collette and Naomi Ackie about what “Mickey 17” has to say about the current state of society, and what we can all learn from it. Below are excerpts from these interviews, but for the full discussions (as well as my conversation with star Steven Yeun), tune into today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast.

Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett once wrote that evil begins when you start to treat people like objects. Do you agree? And is this a core pillar of “Mickey 17”?

Director Bong: That’s such a perfect quote for this film. I wish I had known it sooner when I was writing it, because it’s really connected to the underlying themes and questions that this film explores. The concept of human printing, it’s a key element of the film, and that quote is exactly what human printing is.

Because humans aren’t supposed to be printed out. That’s a combination of words that shouldn’t really exist. And that setup itself presents the tragedy and ridiculousness and sort of the inhumanity of that world. And if you think about Robert Pattinson in that situation, you feel even sorry for the character. If you look at Mickey, he’s too nice for his own good, always taking the shorter end of the stick. And it really emphasizes the unfortunate predicament of Mickey’s story.

I think people often feel expendable even without the concept of human printing, and this is really emphasizing what it can feel like to be in a hostile society. Do you see this story as reflecting the current landscape many of us are living through?

Director Bong: In Korea recently, there was a young worker who unfortunately died at the workplace. And that happens all over the world. And what’s even sadder is that when, say, John dies during an extreme job, you have Freddie come in to replace him. And then if Freddie dies, you have Tom come in to replace him. So the job remains the same. It’s just the people, the person constantly changes and replaces the predecessor. And that’s quite terrifying and also sad. In the film, you see Mickey just take all of that on. He’s one person who takes all these missions and constantly dies. And I think that setup really reflects our current reality, just shows it in a more extreme way because it’s one person handling all of it and he dies and gets printed out and that actually alleviates the guilt of his community because they can just be like, “Oh, it’s your job to die. We’ll just print you right back out.”

What lessons are you hoping that American audiences might be able to learn from watching characters living under a ruler like Marshall?

Director Bong: I sense the clear intentions of your question with Marshall’s character played by Mark Ruffalo. [laughs] If you ask us, is it a satire of a particular character? I think it’ll be difficult for Mark and I to say, “No, absolutely,” to that. [laughs] But even in Korea, there was recently some political turmoil, and not-so-good things happened. Yeah. And in the modern age, all of us have gone through bad leaders and political sufferings. And I kind of wanted all of that to be mixed into this character.

“Mickey 17” is obviously a story about Mickey Barnes, but it is also set in a society that caters to the whims of a cult-like fascist, egomaniacal, blowhard. You both play women who take very different pathways in how to exist under that sort of administration. What lessons are you hoping audiences learn from your characters that they may be able to incorporate in their own lives if they were to … hypothetically ever perhaps exist under the administration of a cult-like fascist, egomaniacal, blowhard themselves?

Naomi Ackie: Wow. Good question.

Toni Collette: See, my character is really interesting because I’m married to the blowhard. [laughs] But by the end of it, I think she learns that everyone kind of goes through the same experiences as a human and that you can’t avoid the hard stuff. But actually she’s so narcissistic, I don’t think she actually would change the way she is! [laughs] But ultimately I think the takeaway is that everyone matters and hopefully we can be aware enough to know that we have personal power because it’s not naturally nurtured in society. It’s not — people aren’t told to really take care of that stuff, but it’s in each of us.

Ackie: I think from [my character] Nasha, it’s like if you fight for one person, you’re fighting for a lot of people. I think there’s something about, “[Is there] someone in need? Help him,” because that might ricochet off into something else. I don’t think Nasha was intentional. The end result isn’t where she started. She wasn’t seeking to — I don’t want to give anything away. But her adamant love of a person who is undervalued did change something. I think that’s really important.

“Mickey 17” is in theaters now.