Parasite director Bong Joon-ho working on new sci-fi film, Robert Pattinson in talks to star

Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean director of Oscar-winning movie Parasite, will be working on a sci-fi film next – and Batman star Robert Pattinson is currently in talks to star.

The news was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday (Jan 19) after initially being reported by Deadline.

The as-yet-untitled film will be based on a forthcoming novel by author Edward Ashton called Mickey7, which is set to be published in the first quarter of 2022.

The novel centres on titular character, Mickey7, who is an Expendable, that is, a disposable employee, who has been sent on an expedition to colonise the ice world Niflheim. Mickey7 is tasked to take on the most dangerous jobs and when he dies, he gets regenerated in a new body with his memories still intact. Mickey7 is thought to have died, but then he returns to the mission’s base to find that Mickey8 has taken his place.

Bong is set to produce the film, together with Dooho Choi for Kate Street Picture Company, as well as Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B. Bong’s film, Parasite, swept the Oscar for best picture, best director and best original screenplay in 2020. A limited series spinoff for HBO is currently in the works.

Pattinson will next be seen as the Caped Crusader in The Batman, slated for release on Mar 4. The actor recently spoke up about how a past joke he made about not working out for the role had come back to haunt him.

In May 2020, he told GQ magazine that he was not working out to play Batman and that he was ignoring the trainer that Warner Bros hired for him. However, in a Jan 19 interview with MovieMaker, he clarified that he had been joking.

“You’re playing Batman. You have to work out. I think I was doing the interview when I was in lockdown, as well, in England…I was in a lower gear of working out,” Pattinson said.