Bong Joon-ho, director of the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite, will work on a science-fiction project next. Backed by Warner Bros, the film is expected to feature actor Robert Pattinson, according to Deadline.
The film will be based on the upcoming book Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. According to the book’s publisher St. Martin Press, the high-concept thriller is best described as The Martian meets Dark Matter. The story revolves around Mickey7, an Expendable – a disposable employee on an expedition sent to colonize the ice world Nifheim – who gets cloned when he is presumed to be dead. It follows Mickey7’s efforts to conceal his clone from the rest of the world in order to bypass death.
Pattinson, who will soon appear as the titular superhero in the upcoming DC film The Batman, which is set to be distributed by Warner Bros, has reportedly been approached to play the lead role in Bong’s yet-to-be-titled adaptation of Mickey7. If he comes on board, this will mark the actor and director’s first collaboration.
The story is yet to be confirmed as well, since Ashton’s novel is slated to hit the stands only in February and given Bong’s history with adaptations. Deadline’s sources said the film may ultimately end up being different from the novel, though inspired by it.
According to the report, Ashton approached the director with the book’s manuscript towards the end of 2021.
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Bong will also produce the upcoming film through his company Offscreen, along with Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B and Dooho Choi of Kate Street Pictures. Peter Dodd will oversee on behalf of Warner Bros.
The film will be Bong’s first venture since Parasite.
Parasite is a South-Korean black comedy thriller which revolves around a poor family that schemes their way into getting hired by a rich family. The film released in 2019 to rave reviews and set several records, including becoming Bong’s first venture to cross the $100 million mark worldwide.
It won the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes International Film festival and later became the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It also earned Bong Oscars for direction and original screenplay, in addition to winning the Best International Feature Film award.