Robert Pattinson, who appears in director Bong Joon-ho‘s new film ‘Mickey 17’, visited Korea for the first time. He drew attention by sharing his thoughts on his first visit to Korea, as well as his unique thoughts on appearing in director Bong Joon-ho’s film.

On the morning of the 20th, a preview of the film ‘Mickey 17’ and a press conference were held at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Director Jun-ho and actor Robert Pattinson attended the press conference that day.

Robert Pattinson was the first to greet people in Korean, saying, “Hello” and asking, “Is my pronunciation correct?”, making people laugh.



Robert Pattinson then said about the reason he wanted to go to Korea, “I was surprised that they had never been to Seoul before. It seems like they came while promoting, but this is their first time. I wanted to meet you all and meet other people,” he said, drawing attention.

Director Bong Joon-ho started by saying, “It’s been a while since we had an event like this,” and explained about “Mickey 17,” saying, “It’s a common sci-fi movie, but it’s a movie full of humanity. It’s a movie about a powerless and pitiful young man named Mickey. I came to encounter it as a sci-fi movie with a human touch.”

Director Bong Joon-ho also said, “The movie doesn’t carry a political banner. It’ll be fun to see how pitiful this guy is and see it as a story about Mickey’s growth.” Regarding the reason why the character, who died seven times in the original, was killed 17 times, Director Bong Joon-ho said, “I wanted to increase the number of times. Seven times wasn’t enough. I wanted to express the feeling of a worker through more diverse deaths,” he said.

Robert Pattinson also said about the character of ‘Mickey’, “The script itself was really fun. When I first read it, it felt simple. It was really crazy and an easy-to-read script. In fact, it got complicated when I looked into the mentality behind it and saw why Mickey looked like that. There was a bit of humanity in it. It’s a character with no confidence at all. It’s a character that you can easily see. There were a lot of inspirations, but at first I thought I was playing a dog,” he said, drawing attention.



When asked about the reason why the release date of ‘Mickey 17’ changed several times, Director Bong Joon-ho said, “It was exciting because the release date changed. It’s always been like that with my movies. That’s how much the distributor worries. Maybe it’s because we got a lot of attention this time, but there was that aspect. It was also because of the Hollywood industry. There were complicated situations. There were no reshoots or such complicated situations. Warner also respected the control of the film itself. It was a work that ended smoothly, but there were changes due to external factors. I am happy that it will be released first in Korea.”

Regarding the reason for casting Robert Pattinson in “Mickey,” Director Bong Joon-ho explained, “Robert Pattinson is not well known in Korea, but he showed amazing acting in indie films. I was interested in him from then on. He had to play two roles, and he had to cover both the stupid and pitiful feeling and the bizarre charisma. I thought of Robert Pattinson as someone who could do both, and the casting went smoothly.”

When asked about the worldview of Director Bong Joon-ho’s films and his favorite films, Robert Pattinson said, “I think there are four or five people like Director Bong in the world. He is a director that all actors want to work with. But when you watch the director‘s movies, the worldview is very special. And it makes sense. It touches personal and emotional lines. It’s hard to explain why, especially in terms of performance. I watched ‘Memories of Murder’ a long time ago, and the memories that came to mind were very absurd and serious situations that were freely crossed. It makes you watch without distinguishing between genres. I really wanted to make a movie like this,” he said.

When asked why he set ‘Mickey 17’ in the near future, Director Bong Joon-ho said, “It‘s something you’ll experience. It‘s that realistic and relatable. It’s good to have epic, far-off, time-traveling SF movies like ‘Dune’, but our work is SF that smells like humans that are right in front of us and around us. It‘s something that can happen to us. Didn’t we not imagine Chat GPT 10 years ago? It‘s hard to predict 10 years from now. ”The situation in the movie may seem science fiction, but it will unfold before your eyes someday,“ he said.



Robert Pattinson, who was rumored to immigrate to Korea due to his extraordinary affection for Korea, joked about the rumors that day, saying, ”I’m really looking for an apartment,“ when asked about it. He then said, ”I‘ve never been (to Korea) before. It looks really nice. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since I‘ve been here. The Korean film industry seems amazing. I grew up watching many directors and actors. I want to do more Korean works.“

He also said about the many fans who welcomed him when he arrived in Korea on the 19th, ”I was really surprised. It warmed my heart to see them at the airport. He even asked for my autograph, which was nice to see,” he said, drawing attention.

Robert Pattinson said about working with Director Bong Joon-ho, “Actors want to work with people who challenge their limits and present new challenges. They really hunt for something. Director Bong’s film stood out among them. It was my first time working with a director of this style. The director is very systematic. There are many cases of reshoots and repetition, but Director Bong kept it very short. And he felt free. He can concentrate his energy by doing one or two lines at a time. I think most actors have had similar experiences. I just naturally said, ‘This is the best on set.’”

Director Bong Joon-ho said about ‘Mickey 17’, “For the first time in my 25-year career, there is a love story. There is a love story between the female protagonist and Mickey. There is also a love theme song. It would be too shameless to call this movie a melodrama, but I was so proud of it,” he said, raising curiosity about the story that will unfold in the film.

Lastly, Director Bong Joon-ho said, “I had a great time working with such great actors. I hope you enjoy it,” and Robert Pattinson also asked for the film to be viewed, saying, “I hope the people who watch it feel the fun we had while filming.”

Meanwhile, ‘Mickey 17’ is a film about ‘Mickey (played by Robert Pattinson), an expendable item (Expendable) that is used for dangerous work, who is reprinted when he dies, and the unpredictable story that unfolds when ‘Mickey 18’ is printed while he is believed to be dead.

‘Mickey 17’ is based on Edward Ashton’s ‘Mickey 7’, published in 2022, and stars Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo, raising expectations for a big hit in 2025. It will be released in Korea for the first time worldwide on February 28.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com
This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.