Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as several different versions of the same character. In a recent interview, director Bong Joon-ho revealed why they settled on the number “17”.
Why does Mickey 17’s title have 17 in it?
Speaking to Deadline during the red carpet event for the film’s premiere, Bong was asked why he chose to have 17 Mickeys in the film instead of another number. According to the director, he wanted to convey just how routine it is for Mickey to die in the movie.
“If [dying] is your job, then you should go through it more times, it should be like your routine,” said Bong, before joking that something like seven times “was not enough.”
“From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, Mickey 17,” the official synopsis reads. “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.”
Along with Pattinson (The Batman, Tenet), the cast of Mickey 17 includes Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Nope), Toni Collette (Hereditary, Knives Out), and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things, Avengers: Infinity War).
Bong Joon-ho produced the movie alongside Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Dooho Choi. Brad Pitt, Jesse Ehrman, Peter Dodd, and Marianne Jenkins serve as executive producers.
Bong Joon-ho made his feature film directorial debut in 2000 with Barking Dogs Never Bite. He then went on to direct 2003’s Memories of Murder, 2006’s The Host, 2009’s Mother, 2013’s Snowpiercer, and 2017’s Okja before making Parasite, the latter of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards, among many other accolades.
Mickey 17 will hold its premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival next month. It will then be released in United States theaters on March 7, 2025, from Warner Bros. Pictures. Internationally, the film will be released two days prior, March 5, 2025.
