Acclaimed filmmaker Bong Joon Ho is continuing the casting process for the anticipated follow-up to his Academy Award-winning black comedy thriller, Parasite. Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, whose deals are in final negotiations, and I Wanna Dance With Somebody star Naomi Ackie, are set to join Robert Pattinson in the upcoming movie, Deadline is reporting.
The untitled film, which is being developed at Warner Bros., is based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. The Oscar-winning Bong will write, direct and produce the movie for his production company, Offscreen.
The filmmaker will be joined by several other producers, including Kate Street Picture Company’s Dooho Choi and Plan B’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, as part of the latter’s overall deal with Warner Bros. The movie reunites Bong and Choi with Brad Pitt’s Plan B following their collaboration on the helmer’s 2017 hit action adventure drama, Okja.
Ashton’s book was published in February by St. Martin, a Macmillan imprint. The film will be inspired by the novel, but given Bong’s past experiences with modifying source material for his screen adaptations, his version of Mickey7‘s story is expected to be a bit different from the one in the book.
The novel’s story follows the titular Mickey7, who is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s dangerous, the crew relies on Mickey to complete it. After one iteration of Mickey7 dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 finally understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position available when he took it.
Following Parasite‘s sweep of the Oscars, including for Best Director and Best Picture, in 2020, Bong has carefully considered what project he should work on next. At the end of last year, he was presented the manuscript for the unpublished Mickey7 book by Ashton, which immediately drew the filmmaker’s interest.
Bong then became loosely attached to the screen adaptation late last year. Before the holidays, he met with some of Hollywood’s most promising stars, as many A-listers in their 30s were vying to play the eponymous role of Mickey.
Pattinson became the frontrunner for the part after he impressed Bong and executives during a meeting he had with them. They soon made him an offer right before the new year.
The upcoming movie is Bong’s second project with Warner Bros. Discovery, following a limited series based on Parasite that’s currently in production at HBO. The filmmaker and Choi are executive producing the series with Adam McKay and Kevin Messick.
The Mickey7 screen adaptation is set to begin production in August in London and finish in December. The movie doesn’t currently have a release date.