Robert Pattinson is sacrificing himself for science, literally, in the trailer for Bong Joon Ho‘s Mickey 17. In the clip, Pattinson plays a man named Mickey who volunteers to be an “expendable” and is subject to repeated deaths in a futuristic world.
The comedic trailer, which sees the British Pattinson doing an unusual American accent, shows Mickey forced to die in violent ways in the name of research, with his body replicated each time he kicks the bucket. Eventually, though, two Mickeys exist at once, causing both chaos and excitement.
The film, which also stars Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo, marks Joon Ho’s highly-anticipated follow-up to his Oscar-winning drama Parasite. It’s based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton and will arrive in theaters on Jan. 31, 2025.
The official synopsis notes, “From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, Mickey 17. The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.”
Joon Ho won three Oscars for Parasite, which came out in 2019, including Best Director. He previously helmed Okja, Snowpiercer, and The Host. Several of his longtime collaborators, including cinematographer Darius Khondji and editor Yang Jinmo, also worked on Mickey 17.
Pattinson most recently starred as Bruce Wayne in The Batman and lent his voice to the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film The Boy and the Heron.
