Robert Pattinson surprises CinemaCon to tease Bong Joon Ho's 'bizarre' Mickey 17

Robert Pattinson — and his carbon copies — made a surprise appearance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, giving attendees a sneak peek of Bong Joon Ho's Mickey 17 along with the filmmaker.

"I've been the biggest fan of Bong for many, many years; he's my hero," Pattinson told the audience. "I got sent the script; I was told, 'You're gonna love the script, but the part is impossible.' That was very, very exciting to me. I thought it was the most unusual, bizarre, funny script."

The futuristic sci-fi film (out Jan. 31) is Bong's first since winning the Oscar for 2019's Parasite, and it stars Pattinson as a man named Mickey, who dies and is repeatedly reprinted in new bodies to fulfill dangerous missions on a distant planet. The number attached to Mickey's name at any given time signifies the present version of Mickey.

"It's about a simple man who ultimately ends up saving the world," Bong teased of the film's plot. "It's a very strange type of hero's journey."

Bong adapted the book from Edward Ashton's novel Mickey7, about a human expedition to colonize a planet in deep space. As part of the mission, the crew uses "Expendables" — clones who can be reborn and reprinted multiple times — for tasks considered too dangerous for human life. Upon death, an Expendable can be reborn with most of its memories intact.

Bong told the CinemaCon crowd that his adaptation of Ashton's book meant that the film needed a new title.

"We made it Mickey 17 because the number is the number of times he dies," the director told the crowd. "I kill him 10 times more."

The trailer shown at the event opened on a spaceship floating through space, as an AI voice asks how Pattinson's Mickey is doing. "I guess I am feeling a little dizzy," he replies. We see Mickey receiving a full body scan to collect biodata, to be used to reprint a new version of his body after his death.

"As an Expendable, they made me work my ass off on one mission after another," Mickey says in the footage. "Even on my 17th go around, I hate dying."

The trailer goes on to show multiple versions of Mickey alongside each other. Pattinson told the crowd that he was intrigued by the idea of playing "two very fun characters."

"Mickey 17 is someone who has the lowest expectations of his life, and yet the world keeps pushing those expectations, to the point where he has a job that tortures him every day," Pattinson explained. "And then 18 comes along, and he's got frontal lobe damage and no self-control, libido out of control. It's like playing an evil brother or twin."

Bong also teased the film's starry supporting cast, revealing that Naomi Mackie plays Mickey's girlfriend, Mark Ruffalo plays "a very fun dictator," and Steven Yeun stars as a friend of Mickey's, referred to as "another crazy guy in the movie." "The chemistry between Steven and Rob is special," Bong added.

Mickey 17 will hit theaters on Jan. 31.

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