2020 Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon ho returns with Mickey 17 (in theatres March 7) — his second, primary English language film since Snowpiercer (2013). Joon-ho’s sci-fi space odyssey enlists Robert Pattinson as the titular character with Naomi Ackie playing his eternal love interest. The South Korean auteur known for Parasite (2019) hardly leaves room for interpretation in his profound way of storytelling. In Mickey 17, Bong Joon ho’s satirical angle on conglomerate superpowers manipulating scientific innovation and space exploration for their gain doesn’t seem too far off from the near future.
“I feel like there is such a through line from Okja to Parasite,” Ackie says, beaming from New York on Zoom a day after the Oscars. “His films talk about how we treat each other, how society is formed, and how people exist within these structures that tend not to help and never allow everyone to ascend in the way that everyone deserves.” The 32-year-old British actress, most recently, known for playing Whitney Houston in the 2022 biopic and leading Zoe Kravitz’s Blink Twice is extremely familiar with the Mickey 17 filmmaker’s work. Ackie is accustomed to playing headstrong characters yet this is her first time playing a security agent in space who happens to be Mickey’s lover.
The romantic dynamic shared between Mickey and Nasha is one like no other. Joon ho’s protagonist, Mickey has signed his life away all in the name of scientific research. He becomes the lead case study for an organic cloning experiment which frequently reprints out his body with full memory intact throughout the film; all so humanity can test out different planetary conditions for colonial pursuits. Ackie performs as Nasha with resilience and an allure that dazzles Mickey so much that after each unfavorable death, he comes to her beck and call.
Even though Ackie was transparent about never really wanting to play a love interest, she claims being one in a sci-fi epic, “is really not a part of [her] vibe.” However, since the cinematic canvas was crafted by Joon ho’s mind, she thought “let’s give it a whir!” The almost inconceivable comedy that comes from Mickey 17’s ensemble which includes Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, and Toni Collette as morally questionable opportunists who seek out greed. Joon ho’s screenwriting pen is packed with obscure truths, always hinting at humanity’s ugliest tendencies and grotesque habits above all else.
Furthermore, Ackie talks about Joon ho’s directing style, working alongside multiple characters played by Pattinson, Mickey 17’s aims, and being a part of an original sci-fi blockbuster.
ESSENCE: What do you think Bong Joon ho was tackling headfirst with your character and Mickey 17’s connection to the landscape of space?
Naomi Ackie: Director Bong had seen a project I did with Steve McQueen back in the day and said I had a motherly nature about me, which he thought was perfect for my character Nasha. I think the most interesting quality about herself for people who are watching is that she doesn’t judge herself. She is not watchful of herself. She is instinctive and she knows what is right for her.
What did you learn about his directing style while being a protagonist in this original sci-fi story?
NA: Bong works extremely meticulously in terms of storyboarding. You film according to storyboard instead of scenes. So, you’re not shooting a whole scene at once. You never shoot a scene all the way through. You shoot it frame by frame instead. So, you never have to learn any lines. You’re literally shooting a moment in time as you go along, and the whole film is edited as you go along. More or less like three quarters of the way through, you could go into the edit tent and watch three quarters of the film. It is all being banked.
There was this real sense of spontaneity. You could really fill up that moment with all of the intention of that frame and then drop it and then move on to a moment completely different. So you end up getting these characters who seem quite wild. It was really freeing. Since then, I’ve done other projects and I want to continue that idea of freedom and spontaneity.
When reading the script at first, did you realize how kinetic your connection with Mickey would be and how it would transform?
NA: Yeah, it was really illustrated. Nasha felt like a different version of a love story and she fit with how I like to do things. If I was to look back on the work I’ve done, everything feels quite different. I love looking at all kinds of old tropes and then figuring out characters that subvert or explore life in really different ways.
ESSENCE: When it came to how intertwined you and Mickey were in this space-borne ship, Nasha would watch Mickey die time and time again. Do you think she sort of had a liking to that ephemeral feeling?
NA: I think so. One thing Bong was always reminding me was that she is fun even though she works in security. She wants to have fun. She is not taking the stakes of life too seriously. She finds something exciting about Mickey and the fact that he can always survive is really touching. There is bravery in what he is doing and nobility. Although, she truly is the one who gives Mickey the time to be a full human being.
ESSENCE: What did you love most about the redemptive evolutions of the characters in the film?
NA: There is a scene without giving anything away near the end where Nasha unleashes herself and I said all of those lines with my full chest and — I mean with my full chest. It was actually one of my favorite days on set. I like how Nasha is a natural-born leader in a way where she is not looking for power. If Kenneth Marshall is searching for power and is willing to go to a different planet to do it, she is someone who doesn’t need the power, but has it naturally inside of her and isn’t searching.
ESSENCE: For Robert Pattinson’s character, the idea of organic printing, how was setting up scenes to play with his twin/clone, how did Bong film those moments? Was it exciting to kind of join the twin canon in cinema?
NA: There was two Robert’s. We cloned two. We had a standing actor who knew the lines and had the same build. If Rob was ever in the same frame as his clone self, then there were two actors in the same frame, and we would shoot it twice over. They would literally take Rob’s face and put it onto the other actor’s face.
ESSENCE: The Alien creepers reminded me of Luke Skywalker’s connection to the Ewoks, how did Bong Joon ho describe the relationship he wanted your character to share with this new species?
NA: We shot everything in London. It was inside the Warner Brothers Studios and being a Londoner, I got to shoot with Bong Joon ho at home. It was amazing. Bong has this real affinity for little creatures. He just had such a joy and love for these puppets at the time. I had a puppet that I was working with and then sometimes we would just have to imagine them scurrying around. I haven’t done a CGI-heavy movie since, Star Wars, and that was at the beginning of my career, now, I feel like I have gotten a lot better at acting with CGI.
ESSENCE: Why do you think Mickey 17 was Bong Joon ho’s next follow-up?
NA: I do think many themes are hidden. I’ve watched it now three times. The third time, I believe was the first time that I could see the film as a first-time audience member might see it. There are so many different layers to Mickey 17. It is a film where if you talk about it more, you start to really figure out how he has placed the story when it comes to commenting on society and what is really trivial or what becomes very, very important when life becomes too political which relates to what is going on in the world right now.