EXCLUSIVE: Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up film to his Oscar-winning Parasite is gaining quite the ensemble, as sources tell Deadline that Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo (whose deals are in final negotiations), along with Naomi Ackie, are joining Robert Pattinson in Bong’s next feature at Warner Bros. The untitled film is based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton.
Bong will write, direct and produce for his production company Offscreen, alongside 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 film reteams Bong and Choi with Brad Pitt’s Plan B following their successful collaboration on the director’s 2017 film Okja.
The book will be published in in the first quarter of 2022 by St. Martin, a Macmillan imprint. While the film will be inspired by the novel, sources say that given Bong’s past experiences with adaptations, his version might ultimately may be different from the novel’s. The novel’s story follows 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 too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
Following Parasite’s sweep of the Oscars including for Best Director and Best Picture, Bong has taken his time in figuring out his next steps. Towards the end of 2021, he was presented the manuscript for the unpublished book by Ashton, which immediately drew his interest. The Oscar winner became loosely attached to the
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Naomi Ackie
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Jeremy Kleiner