Berlin: Bong Joon Ho Says ‘Mickey 17’ Villain Was Modeled on Past Dictators But May Remind Viewers of Present-Day Political Leaders

Multi-Oscar-winning South Korean director Bong Joon Ho glided into the snow-blanketed Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday to unveil his long-in-the-making sci-fi feature Mickey 17 — and it wasn’t long before the international media in the German capital probed the auteur about the relevance of his new movie to the world’s politically fraught present. Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as a down-and-out space colonist living in a high-tech dystopia overseen by a dictator played by Mark Ruffalo with signature relish. 

“Some of the people I took as a reference were some of Korea’s bad leaders of the past, or dictators from elsewhere, but I didn’t use any actual politicians from today,” Bong said in response to a journalist’s question about whether some of Ruffalo’s flamboyant gestures were intended as a reference to President Doland Trump. “I created this character in a comical way by drawing inspiration from past figures, but since history always repeats itself, it might seem like I’m referring to someone in the present,” Bong added. 

The director said that he strove to infuse his story with as much emotional realism as possible despite its fantastical elements.

“Although it’s a story of the future, it kind of seems like it could happen in the present or the past,” he said. “This is why I really like the fantasy genres — because the characters can be very human so that they don’t feel limited to sci-fi.”

Set in a near-future and adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 sci-fi novel Mickey 7, Mickey 17 follows Pattnison as an aimless young man who signs up for a job as an “expendable,” a disposable low-class employee sent on dangerous space jobs who is automatically “reprinted” via cloning technology whenever he dies on the job. Toni Collette, Naomi Ackie and Steven Yeun co-star alongside Ruffalo. 

Bong noted that Mickey 17 also contains the first love story of his filmography, a romance between Pattinson’s clone and another space character. 

“I want to make a film in every genre,” the director said. “That’s my life goal — although I’m a little scared of musicals,” he added. 

Mickey 17 has been the subject of much curiosity, given that it is Bong’s first film since Parasite swept the Oscars in 2019. The new feature also took a bit longer than expected to emerge, after postproduction delays pushed the film from a March 2024 release into 2025. 

The film bowed first in South Korea on Jan. 28, and it will roll out in the U.S. on March 7. Warner Bros. is releasing the film worldwide.