Bong Joon-ho has found his next film after Parasite.
Two years after his scathing social satire took home the Oscar for Best Picture, the South Korean filmmaker is at work on his next feature film. Bong will write and direct a sci-fi film based off Edward Ashton's forthcoming novel Mickey7, per Deadline. Tenet and High Life star Robert Pattinson is also in talks to star.
The novel Mickey7, which is described as "Andy Wier’s The Martian meets Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter," follows an Expendable named Mickey, a disposable employee who is sent on dangerous colonial expeditions, and regenerates as a clone with most of his memories intact upon his death. After six deaths, Mickey7 "understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it," per the outlet.
Bong will also produce the film via his production company Offscreen, alongside Kate Street Picture Company and Plan B. The director previously worked with Plan B on his 2017 Netflix film Okja. The new unnamed film will be his third American co-produced film after Okja and 2013's Snowpiercer.
Parasite swept the 2020 awards season as a surprise hit, making history as the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture, with Bong also winning for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. His first project after the film is highly-anticipated among both film enthusiasts and industry vets, with Deadline reporting that "every A-lister in their 30s" were chasing after the main role in his new film. Bong reportedly felt Pattinson was perfect for the role after meeting with him in late 2021.
Pattinson is next set to star in The Batman, which premieres in theaters on March 4.
Quinci LeGardye is an LA-based freelance writer who covers culture, politics, and mental health through a Black feminist lens. When she isn’t writing or checking Twitter, she’s probably watching the latest K-drama or giving a concert performance in her car.
