The Berlin Film Festival received a double shot of Robert Pattinson courtesy of the premiere of Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” on Saturday evening. And the actor, who stars as an explorer and his clone in this trippy sci-fi epic, was able to at least double the applause within the cinema after the credits had rolled.
“Mickey 17” had one of the festival’s most rapturous welcomes. The audience at the Berlinale Palast Theater gave Bong’s new parable a standing ovation that lasted just one minute but would have continued longer if not interrupted. Berlin’s new head Tricia Tuttle interrupted the applause to introduce Bong on stage for a short Q&A. >
“I was so intrigued by the idea of human printing,” Bong told the crowd, relieved that they waited out the end of the 137-minute film. “Mickey 17,” opening in theaters on March 7 from Warner Bros., is a dystopian world where Mickey is a drifting Mickey who leaves Earth on a spaceship by offering to become “an expandable,” giving his body to the cause. Mickey does perilous tasks that kill him (again and again), yet he comes back through clones of himself; his memory is still intact through an advanced printing device. >
“It just felt so great thinking about printing more Robert Pattinsons,” Bong said. “He’s so very printable!” >
Pattinson, dressed in all-black like a Batman (leather jacket and all), arrived early in the evening — signing autographs and snapping dozens of selfies en route to the theater. “Rob! Rob! Rob!” chanted the people waiting outside, showering him with the same sort of movie-star reception he had seen during his “Twilight” heyday.
In fact, Pattinson’s sexuality is well utilized in “Mickey 17.” When one of the Mickeys lands by accident after a fall, he goes back to the spaceship to encounter his next clone — and they duel over his girlfriend (Naomi Ackie). They even get intimate with her in a scene that puts the threesome love triangle from “Challengers” to shame. >
Other stars who appeared at the screening were Steven Yeun and Toni Collette. And Tilda Swinton, who notoriously played a dictator in 2013’s “Snowpiecer,” showed up for the screening after accepting a career achievement honorary Golden Bear on Thursday evening. Pattinson and Bong gave a love sign to the audience as the film began by each of them raising a half-circle hand sign to form a perfect full heart.
“Mickey 17” is Bong’s first since his “Parasite” opened in Cannes in 2019 to a five-minute standing ovation and captured the Oscar for best picture. Bong’s oeuvre – from 2006’s “The Host” through 2017’s “Okja” – has favored examining identity, society and class struggle, all of which are pursued further with a Trump-style politician played by Mark Ruffalo in “Mickey 17”.
The film, costing $118 million to produce, is estimated to open at close to $20 million in the domestic market. Yet it’s likely that positive buzz and Berlin reviews could serve to increase its box office potential. But a message to the festival organizers: Next time, let the audience applaud for much, much longer.