The long-awaited release of Mickey 17, directed by Bong Joon-ho, finally arrives tomorrow. Starring Robert Pattinson and Heroine 22 cover star Naomi Ackie (read our in-conversation between the two stars here), the film introduces Pattinson’s character, Mickey, who volunteers to become an “Expendable.” In the Mickey 17 universe, Expendables are individuals whose DNA is resequenced each time they die, allowing for the creation of endless clones. With a unique blend of science fiction and black humour, Mickey 17 is a film that delves into the surreal in order to examine inherently human tropes of life, loss and love.

If the film leaves you craving more, we’ve put together a selection of extra research – ie. films and books that delve into similar themes. From dystopian classics to modern sci-fi, we’ve got you covered.

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, 2023

Perhaps the most obvious route to go down if you loved Mickey 17 is to read the novel it’s based on. Edward Ashton’s Mickey7 was released in 2022 and, interestingly, production on the film started before the book was actually published. In interviews, director Bong Joon-ho has stated that his movie and Ashton’s novel are actually quite different works. Bong borrowed the basic plot and some of the characters from early drafts of the novel and then wrote his own story with them. So it could be interesting to go back to that original novel and see how different the stories are.

Moon, dir. Duncan Jones, 2009

[spoiler alert] When Moon was released in 2009, it felt like it came out of nowhere. The first film from Duncan Jones, it follows Sam Rockwell as he comes to the end of a three-year stint, alone, on the far side of the moon. Suffering from hallucinations, he crashes his lunar rover and eventually wakes up in an infirmary with no memory of the incident. Travelling back to the crash site, he finds his own body still there at the scene. Both Mickey 17 and Moon have a lot of fun with the concept of the doppelgänger and what a person would do if they suddenly met their clone.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932

Genetic advancement and cloning are central to the world of Mickey 17. And where have these topics been explored better than in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World? The world of Brave New World is a dystopia. Children are born from artificial wombs and go through early years indoctrination where their intelligence and ability determine their social standing. The novel’s protagonist, Bernard Marx, is slightly smaller than others in his societal class, causing him to be an outcast who, eventually, rebels against the entire system. Brave New World is one of those books that is discussed far more than it is actually read, but reading it almost a hundred years after its publication will make your jaw drop at just how much Huxley managed to predict.

The Fifth Element, dir. Luc Besson, 1997

Billed as a black comedy, the humour of Mickey 17 feels like a hark back to Luc Besson’s bonkers sci-fi space opera The Fifth Element. Starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman, the film revolves around the effort to save Earth in the 23rd century. The film is famed for its unconventional approach to sci-fi, with its colourful set design and costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier. It’s sci-fi but with a twist, much like Mickey 17.

High Life, dir. Claire Denis, 2018

If your demands are simple and you just want to see Robert Pattinson in space, then it’s your lucky day. Claire Denis’ High Life follows a group of criminals sent on a space mission toward a black hole. A notable outlier in Denis’ filmography (it was her first film in English and also her first genre film), High Life carved a new path in Pattinson’s career that he has been following since, namely working with auteur directors and usually outside the American system.

Mickey 17 is in cinemas on 7th March.