In Mickey 17, Naomi Ackie is launched into a world of clones, space colonies, and interstellar existentialism. Bong Joon-ho’s first movie since his 2019 record-breaking sensation Parasite is an equally all-consuming immersion, and one that strikes true with Ackie’s dedication to character and a desire to explore deeply human stories through world-building cinema and surrealist highs. Set in the near future, Robert Pattinson plays Mickey – a disposable employee who regenerates every time he dies during lethal missions – until one day a glitch sees him come face-to-face with his multiple. When everyone else wants to exterminate both Mickeys, Ackie’s character, Nasha, Mickey 17’s girlfriend, rallies to save them. Back down on Earth, 2025, Ackie and Pattinson reflect on the experience of multiple lifetimes.

Robert Pattinson: Alright.
Naomi Ackie: Hello, darling.

RP: Are you in London?
NA: Yeah, where are you?

RP: I’m in New York.
NA: Oh, New York. [both laugh] How are you?

RP: I’m good. I’m all discombobulated.
NA: How come?

RP: Because I wasn’t working for ages and then I’m like, “Oh, I’m just going to do loads of work all the time,” and now I’m like, “Who am I?!” But coming out of the strike there feels like a really good energy. There’s cool stuff happening and everyone seems really positive.
NA: I know what you mean, I do feel slightly discombobulated. I’ve done two projects this year and I just don’t feel like I’m the same person. Like, when we did Mickey 17, I had done Blink Twice just before that, and I think I’d worked just before that, I was bashing them out, boom, boom, boom.

RP: You filmed Blink Twice before Mickey 17?
NA: Uh-huh. So much has changed. You have a baby!

RP: [laughs] I know. It’s crazy. I’m like a completely different person. What were you shooting, 2073?
NA: I did 2073 here during the strike, the project I just got back from was with Boots Riley.

RP: Oh nice, great!
NA: It’s got Keke Palmer and Taylour Paige [in it] and it’s… mental. You’ve seen Sorry to Bother You?

RP: Yeah, I like Boots a lot. He’s a fun hang as well.
NA: Oh you’ve hung out with him?

RP: I saw him in New Orleans, I think when he’d just finished Sorry to Bother You. He’s great.
NA: He is great. The film is called I Love Boosters and it’s about this group of women who steal clothes from fancy stores and then sell them for cheap on the street. But obviously it has this surrealist, magic-realism element. I feel like my jobs are getting more and more chaotic and weird as I go on. [laughs]

RP: Mickey 17 is less strange or more strange?
NA: I feel like Mickey 17 is actually weirdly less strange. [Robert laughs] And let’s face it, Mickey 17 is… [laughs]

RP: People’s appetite for strangeness does seem to have really expanded.
NA: It’s fucking cool. I like watching weird shit, especially fantasy, sci-fi, magic-realism. So I’m enjoying it. Going back to what you said, it feels like the strike has loosened people up a bit more. It feels like there’s more space for that.

RP: I don’t know what happened but for the first time in ages, movies that a few years ago would be considered really arthouse, somehow the audience are hearing about them and they’re excited about them. It’s great.
NA: It’s amazing. And obviously, you’re Batman – are you going to do Batman again soon?

RP: I fucking hope so. [laughs] I started out as young Batman and I’m going to be fucking old Batman by the sequel. [both laugh]
NA: You’re literally what, 35?

RP: I’m 38, I’m old.
RP: That’s bullshit, 38 isn’t old.

RP: I’m old, but I’m healthier. I think I’ve actually brought my biological age down a bit.
NA: Have you done that test?!

“Bong gave us a storyboard script and then each frame had like two or three lines in each. When he told us he works like that I remember sitting around the table and us all being like, “Huh?””

 

RP: No because in my mind I’m making it younger, but if I did it and they’re like, “Hmm, your biological age is like 80” – I don’t want to find that out. [laughs] If I’m doing a job I can’t ever eat anything, even seasoning, I can’t have pepper. I ate nothing but salmon and avocado for like five months. It actually made my memory better. [both laugh] It genuinely did. Also, I wasn’t going out because the last two jobs were the first time in ages where it was heavy dialogue. One is twenty-five pages every weekend – it’s like doing little plays all the time. So I was like, “I’m going to be really professional…” Especially because after Bong [Joon-ho], when you just had to learn like one line, [laughs] it was really great.
NA: I know! The world needs to know this – recap for the people reading. Bong gave us a storyboard script and then each frame had like two or three lines in each. When he told us he works like that I remember sitting around the table and us all being like, “Huh?” He was like, “After five days, you’ll be into it.” And he was right, five days in I was like this is the best thing ever. How was your experience shooting Mickey 17?

RP: I loved it. Everyone has such reverence for Bong, so in the build-up I was really nervous, and he does have an unusual way of working. It was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had.
NA: So fun, I don’t remember a dull day. I was also told that on the last day or maybe at the wrap party, which I wasn’t able to go to, the crew were crying like, “This is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.” Because he’s super smart and a great leader, but he’s also super warm and surprisingly chill for the scale of movie we were making.

 

RP: Yeah, it was just a laugh. He radiates this aura, you kind of feel like you’re on a small dose of mushrooms. [both laugh] You’re like, “Doo, doo, doo.”
NA: [laughs] It did feel like that. I have a question for you. What is your comedown routine after you finish a job?

RP: I get quite depressed afterwards. Because I did two [films] literally in a row – I left set and had to go straight to the airport to do the next one – I kind of ignored the comedown part, but then I had a double one afterwards. [both laugh] But you know what’s really great, if you have a kid it’s just the best. I was hanging out at the swing with her and it’s just the best anti-depressant.
NA: That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say. It makes me want kids – not right now. [laugh] I guess with anything that pulls your perspective out of the bubble that we exist in when we’re working, you get back and you’re like, “Oh my god, the world has kept turning.”

RP: Yes.
NA: And you’re just adrift.

RP: I’m basically back-to-back until probably the beginning of the year after next.
NA: Wait, wait… Earn that money, congratulations – but that’s insane! [laughs]

RP: It is, but I’m just so thankful that I can do it, because it’s all work that I really want to do. Especially after the strike, I was literally like, “OK, there’s going to be nothing…” You’re trying to look for waves and get momentum. Then suddenly the turnaround happened so fast! I also started this company [Pattinson founded production company Icki Eneo Arlo] and I’m trying to do all this other stuff. I need to be organised, I’ve never been organised in my entire life, and it’s very satisfying to wake up and have something to do.
NA: I get what you mean about the feeling of flow. I even think that needing to prep for one job while you’re on another keeps your brain ticking in a way that makes the day go faster.

RP: One hundred percent. And you don’t get too precious. I always thought that I wanted it to feel like the end of the world, I still do… But I kind of feel like that’s maybe detrimental. I always remember working with Juliette Binoche on a [David] Cronenberg movie [Cosmopolis], I did this one scene with her and she was just so easy, she loved taking direction and was like, “I’m just going to do it…”
NA: Just see what happens.

RP: The opposite of how I arrived in the morning. I remember at the time thinking, “I don’t understand.” She was so trusting of the director and the process. It makes the whole thing so much more fun.
NA: And it’s meant to be fun, right? [laughs] It’s coming up to my ten-year acting anniversary this year.

RP: Congrats!
NA: Very exciting. Me and my mate are going to throw a party to celebrate surviving the film industry for ten years. [laughs]

 

 

RP: What was your first film?
NA: Lady Macbeth with Florence Pugh and Cosmo Jarvis. Donkeys ago, I was 24, can you imagine? I want to get back to what you’re saying. Suddenly after ten years you’re like, “Oh my god, I’ve been taking this job and the industry so seriously.” If I’ve survived this long, maybe I should take some more risks. I guess we hold each job in such reverence, such high esteem, and yes, when we’re there we completely apply ourselves, but at the same time, play comes from not taking it too seriously.

RP: Then also the more jobs you do, the more comfortable you are in your techniques, but you don’t want to get too comfortable…
NA: Get lazy.

RP: And you only realise that too late, so you’re halfway through a scene and you’re like, “I don’t know where I am.” [both laugh] You suddenly feel completely naked.
NA: What was your favourite…

RP: I should be asking you questions.
NA: I can’t help it, I like asking questions. Come on Rob, ask me a question.

RP: Are there any films or other works of art that have really stuck with you and continue to inspire you?
NA: This is funny actually, because you were in it. I’m saying this because it’s the thing that started me on the journey of acting: Harry Potter. Which, obviously, Cedric Diggory, what a loss – heartbreaking. You know how many times I watched those films? I actually revert back to childhood a lot, I feel like I watch current stuff with such discerning eyes, it feels like I’m working, like, I’m looking at the angles. But all the childhood stuff, reading old Roald Dahl books and Shirley Hughes, Harry Potter, things that make me feel young again and remind me why I wanted to do this. You know when people ask your dream job or what role you’d like to play next? I can never think of it, I used to be like, “I want to play a queen,” or something. But what is that? It’s not a real thing. The thing I want to play doesn’t exist until I find it. So basically I don’t know how to answer your question. [laughs]

RP: I remember saying for ages that I wanted to do a movie about vengeance, but I could never find it and did all this other stuff that was the total opposite of that, and then suddenly The Batman came up and the working title was ‘Vengeance’.
NA: Oh shit.

RP: It’s something you’re trying to find, but it’s not as specific as you think it is.
NA: One hundred percent. In that scenario, the thing I’d like to play is something really gutsy. Because in my life, most of the time I walk around and at some point in the day I just want to scream really loudly. [both laugh]

RP: Every day. [laughs]
NA: I do want to play a character who is fully wild. I was actually writing a script about a woman who – I don’t think I’m going to do it any more so I can say it – a woman who turns into a lizard. Because there’s this animal thing I still want to access and portray on camera in a way that isn’t self-indulgent, but I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s not about female rage or anything like that, it’s just a character who is completely wild. Because I think inside I feel completely wild, [laughs] so I’m looking for something to channel that.

RP: You’ll end up playing a queen who thinks she’s…
NA: A lizard. [both laugh]

RP: That’d be so fun.
NA: It would be! That’s partially why I want to get more into making my own stuff. I started in theatre and I was convinced I was going to be a theatre-maker and have my own theatre company. Obviously then film came and took me down a different route, but I’m just now getting back into the spirit of selling my TV show and producing. I feel like maybe the thing I want to do hasn’t been made, and maybe it needs to be made by me.

RP: Is the TV show the script that I read?
NA: Did I send it to you? Shit, I forgot that I did that. [both laugh] That’s the one, I’ve rewritten some parts and I’m trying to sell it again. Right now, I’m still searching for roles for women that let me do what dudes get to do. You get to do the funnest shit!

RP: The only parts dudes get, you have to get a fucking eight-pack for. [both laugh] That’s my experience. No matter what it is, salmon only. [laughs]
NA: I still can’t believe you only had salmon and avocado. [laughs] Wait, which job was that for? Was it for Batman?

RP: No, it was literally a romantic movie! [both laugh] It was almost totally unnecessary.
NA: That’s so funny. But no, dudes do! It’s hard to put a finger on it. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing characters for women, and I think the older I get the better it’s going to get. But I’m not going to lie, I do get a lot of auditions to play the girlfriend who asks, “When are you coming home?”

RP: But what is the guy doing that’s so interesting?
NA: He’s off flying a plane or something, killing guys. I dunno, dude stuff. [both laugh]

RP: Because the more conventional paradigm of what were successful movies is not really working anymore. Almost every actor, even if they’re just starting out, they immediately do movies that go to Cannes or things like that. I think audiences have changed. Most people who are going to watch movies now, they’re so much more accepting of stranger stuff. And the more the audience wants it, the more those parts are going to exist. Up until fairly recently, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the idea of what used to be a ‘commercial’ movie isn’t commercial anymore. Everyone I talk to, for a long time they were like, “Scripts have not been great for a while.” Then suddenly something has shifted and what studios want to make is a little bit left-field. Did you ever read, Pictures at a Revolution, about the movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967? It’s at the end of the old studio system and the beginning of the independents. Now, because everyone doesn’t really know what to do with streaming, they’re like, let’s try something, and it results in some cool stuff.
NA: I really agree and think that Mickey 17 is a prime example. By the way, you’re fantastic [in it]. I remember on the last shoot day, and I kick myself every time I think about it, I gave you a hug and went, “You’re very good at acting.” [both laugh] And then left. That was weird from me, but you are! [laughs] I think it’s a very charming film, that doesn’t go the way you think it’s going to go. That’s what we need more, films that aren’t predictable.

RP: And it’s so cool that it’s a big studio doing it. It’s crazy!
NA: I’ve had so many people come up to me like, “I can not wait to see this film.” I just remembered the days where I’d watch you put the teeth in. [both laugh]

RP: What happened to that tooth?
NA: Was it only one you put in?

RP: Just one tooth.
NA: I went to watch it at a screening room with my team and they were like, “There’s something different about the two Robs but we can’t put our finger on it.” The tooth!

 

“That’s what we need more, films that aren’t predictable.”

RP: Did you ever see the make-up tests from the original look for what 17 was going to look like? We were originally going to make 17 look different, I have chubby cheeks and my ears stick out. Bong was like, “Yeah, he’s from the countryside.” [laughs] Crazy! Like a character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
NA: Of course, Bong is like, “Yeah, that makes sense.” [both laugh]

RP: Some of his directions when he wasn’t going through Sharon [Choi] his translator, he was like, “Do it more… Tesco Metro.” [both laugh] He meant more casual. Then, “More scrunchy face.” This is how all directions should be, I loved it!
NA: He’s a visual man, and I loved that he left us to it and was more directing our movement or the camera’s movement than he was us. There was a real trust from him to us. And with complex characters. Nasha [Naomi’s character in Mickey 17] is… I don’t even know how to describe Nasha. There’s stuff there. [both laugh]

RP: I thought you were so funny in it, always so surprising. When you’re high and…
NA: That’s one of my favourite scenes.

RP: Actually my favourite scene is when you’re under the stairs.
NA: Oh!

RP: I was watching it like, “Alright!”
NA: This bitch is crazy. [both laugh]

RP: She’s making choices.
NA: [laughs] There was a take, I think it’s the one in there, where I shout so loud I blew Anamaria’s [Vartolomei] hair back.

RP: And her reaction! The first time I saw it I was like, “This is actually hilarious.”
NA: I am genuinely so interested to see what people think about the style of it and the message. I need that man to hire me again.

 

 

RP: Probably my favourite line I’ve ever seen in a movie is when Toni [Collette] says: “The aliens look like croissants dipped in shit.” [both laugh] I remember seeing this in the first draft and being like, “OK, this is like a joke line.” Nope, that’s in the movie. [laughs]
NA: She says it straight. [laughs] Yeah, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo. You’ve worked with so many people, do you still get a thing where you’re like, “Oh my god, I’m working with so-and-so”?

RP: Yes. I remember doing that dinner scene and because I hadn’t really done anything with them before that point, and I was trying to come in and do this thing. There’s that moment where we do the first take and I’m like [makes a scoffing food noise] and I could see them both looking at me like, “OK…” [laughs] I think it’s what everyone experiences when you first turn up and you’re figuring it out on the first couple of takes. But with Mark and Toni, I really felt that after the first take they might go and talk to the producers or something: “Tell him to stop!” [both laugh]
NA: I just can’t wait for it to come out, I’m ready. How do you feel about the junkets? Do you like them?

RP: You know a lot of actors are like, “Oh, I hate doing press.” Because I started doing a lot for Harry Potter, I remember the old-style junkets where you’d do 70 interviews in a row, but I was lucky in that nobody ever told me that I had to say certain things. And even if they did, I’d just forget what it was anyway. So I do a junket and I’m just trying to make jokes and stuff.
NA: That’s good to know because I’m super serious. [both laugh]

RP: I literally can’t remember any character names, what the plot is.
NA: Because it happened like five years ago! [laughs] To be fair, when you go from one job to the next, it all kind of blurs into one. Like I can not remember most of Blink Twice, and I’m going to try but I’m struggling to remember a lot of Mickey 17. [laughs]

RP: I loved [Blink Twice], it was great.
NA: Yeah, Zoë [Kravitz] should be so proud.

RP: She’s great.
NA: She should hire you for her next movie!

“…that’s the most exciting stuff, when you can find inspiration in something that nobody else can see.”

RP: I’m actually talking to her about a couple of things. I’ve just done this movie with Kristoffer Borgli who did Dream Scenario and last night he goes, “Do you remember what you showed me as your references on the first day of rehearsal?” And I go, “No.” [laughs] He shows me this video of Chris Kattan in one of my favourite movies Corky Romano, where he’s trying to pull this brick of cocaine away from a dog and gets all it all in his face, then he has to go talk to some kindergarten children. It’s the best movie. I thought I had a smile on my face when I was showing it, it wasn’t like a direct reference, just an idea, but he was like, “You presented it in this really serious way.” [laughs] He was like, “I didn’t understand, like are you taking the piss?” So when I’m doing promo stuff, a lot of my references make sense to me, but not to anybody else.
NA: I know exactly what you mean. Especially when acting is so fluffy anyway, it’s all in the headspace. With Blink Twice there’s a scene, which was cut, that I got from an old Jerry Lewis video of him in a chair. We did this whole dance routine smack-bang in the middle of the film. It didn’t make the cut because tonally and pacing-wise we couldn’t, but that’s the most exciting stuff, when you can find inspiration in something that nobody else can see.

RP: It’s so fun. [While filming High Life] I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then I went to this art museum in Cologne where we were shooting and I saw this statue, I thought it was a woman breastfeeding a child, and then found out afterwards it was like, a dog or something. [both laugh] I literally took a picture of it and showed it to Claire [Denis] like, “This is it. I know how to play the part.” And what I love about Claire is that she took it and was like, “Yes, yes.” I’d printed it out and had it on the front of my script. I was thinking that as I have a daughter it was this woman cradling a baby, but it wasn’t at all.
NA: It was a dog, mate. [laughs] But the point is, it was that in your head. It’s inspiring to me that you work as hard as you do on so many different roles – the span of things you’ve chosen is incredible. Your career is super duper cool. But still, with each script you’re like, “Right, what is the goal, what is the idea.” And you piece it together ahead of time. Not everyone does that.

RP: Yeah, I think I drive people kind of nuts. That’s why I really liked working with you. I always approach things where I need to break it down to the point where you’ve taken every single piece apart.
NA: In theatre, I would do that a lot, in film I work on instinct a lot. But I actually want to put more of what you’re saying back into my process because that was where a lot of the really cool, different characters came from, seeking resources outside. That’s a wake-up call for me, I’m going to start doing that more, again.

 

Feature originally published in Heroine 22

hair RO MORGAN at THE WALL GROUP using BALMAIN HAIR and T3 MICRO, make-up FRANCELLE DALY at 2B MANAGEMENT; manicurist MAKI SAKAMOTO at THE WALL GROUP; movement director JORGE DORSINVILLE at EXPOSURE NY; tailor TAILOR KAITLYN at 7TH BONE; photography assistant BRIAN KANAGAKI; fashion assistant HILTON PALMER; digital technician MIKE SKIGEN; production JENNIFER PIO and DUSTIN EGGLING