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Nearly six years after the worldwide success of Parasite<\/em>\u2014and four Oscar wins\u2014South Korean director Bong Joon Ho<\/strong> has followed up with Mickey 17,<\/em> an epic sci-fi satire in which Robert Pattinson<\/strong> dies over and over again. Bong wrote, produced, and helmed the movie, and he admits he\u2019s feeling pressure. He\u2019s now completed eight films in his 25-year career but says he\u2019s never grown accustomed to the nerves that come with releasing a new project. It\u2019s a trait he shares with Pattinson\u2019s character, Mickey, when he starts every new life.<\/p>\n \u201cMickey repeatedly says he always gets scared despite how many times he\u2019s died,\u201d Bong says. \u201cIt\u2019s similar for me. Every time I release a new film, I get scared and worried. There\u2019s a lot of anxiety. Of course, it\u2019s fun and exciting, but it\u2019s always a mix of emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n Bong makes this charming revelation while sitting next to his longtime interpreter, Sharon Choi<\/strong>, on a recent morning in New York. The 55-year-old director speaks English well but prefers Choi\u2019s precision and nuance for his answers. I thank him for the honest answer about his somewhat agitated mental state at the moment and tell him he\u2019s relatable. \u201cI\u2019m such a fucking nerdy film geek!\u201d he says, suddenly switching to English for added effect. I tell him he\u2019s not just a cinephile, but a prestigious, widely beloved filmmaker. \u201cDoes my life seem like that?\u201d he says. \u201cNo, no. I\u2019m worried about the release of the film. The countdown has begun.\u201d<\/p>\n Mickey 17,<\/em> is a dark, comedic, science fiction thriller set aboard a colonist spaceship bound for a distant icy planet inhabited by fantastical creatures. Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7<\/em> by Edward Ashton<\/strong>, the movie centers around Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), an average, befuddled, and heavily indebted man who joins an intergalactic expedition as a low-ranking expendable\u2014a worker doomed to harsh labor until death, only to be cloned over and over again through a reprinting technology with his old memories intact, and sent straight back to work. This plot of the book immediately caught Bong\u2019s attention. \u201cWhat would it feel like to get printed all the time?\u201d he says. \u201cI put myself in their shoes and think about what it\u2019s like. Then you sense all these emotions associated with that experience.\u201d He adds, \u201cA nice, unfortunate guy who keeps getting printed out so that he can die\u2014that in itself breaks your heart. That feeling was so important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n With Mickey 17,<\/em> Bong taps into his signature themes of class, power, and exploitation, examining a hierarchical society that often treats workers as if they\u2019re literally disposable. \u201cI don\u2019t have a particular political or ethical agenda\u2014it\u2019s more of a matter of personal taste and what I\u2019m biologically drawn to,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not interested in superheroes like Tony Stark in the Marvel movies. He\u2019s so cool and sexy, but I\u2019m more interested in people who aren\u2019t that smart, and how they are faced with a mission that they can\u2019t really handle. I think true human drama comes out of that set up.\u201d<\/p>\n Pattinson was instantly struck by Bong\u2019s bitingly satirical tone. \u201cHe\u2019s extremely fearless and totally idiosyncratic, and he touches on deeply personal and emotional aspects of the human experience,\u201d he tells me by email. \u201cI\u2019ve never worked with a director who has Bong\u2019s unique style. He has an incredibly powerful aura, is systematic, and executes his vision flawlessly, and just makes you see things differently. That\u2019s always the kind of director I want to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n Bong\u2019s unique storytelling has propelled him to mainstream stardom. At the 2020 Academy Awards, his Korean-language thriller Parasite<\/em> picked up the trophies for director, original screenplay, and international feature film prize, and then made history as the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for best picture. \u201cIt was such an honor to win the awards,\u201d Bong says. What he remembers the most about that momentous night, though, was feeling fatigued and longing to see his Norwich terrier. \u201cI was so exhausted,\u201d he says in English. \u201cIt was the very last day of the whole campaign. I was, like, \u2018Let\u2019s hurry up and go home! I want to go rest with my Zzuni.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n