Naomi Ackiehas been showing off her incredible range over the past few years with huge projects likeI Wanna Dance With Somebodyas the forever belovedWhitney HoustonandZoe Kravitz’s splash directorial debutBlink TwiceoppositeChanning Tatum.Now, she’s teaming up with megastarToni Collette, known for her decades of iconic work not limited toMuriel’s Wedding, The Sixth Sense,andHereditary, for director of Oscar-winningParasiteBong Joon Ho’sbig follow-upMickey 17.
Robert Pattinsonplays “expendable” Mickey, living in a human colony on an ice planet governed by brutal idiots. He’s a disposable clone worker forced to perform tasks that will kill him—only for a new body to regenerate, and the whole process to begin anew. Soon, a hiccup creates a chain reaction, forcing Mickey, his friends, and a second Mickey to expose the colony and the harsh social structure within. Ackie plays Nasha, Mickey’s girlfriend, while Collette plays Ylfa, the manipulative wife ofMark Ruffalo’sfascist politician, Kenneth Marshall. The film also co-starsSteven Yeunas Mickey’s self-centered best friend, Timo (Beef).
In this interview, Ackie and Collette talk with Collider’sSteve Weintraubto discuss their roles inMickey 17. They share director Bong’s unique way of shooting moments, all the fun they had on set, and meeting for the first time whilst locked in a little cage. You can watch the full conversation in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.
Toni Collette’s Character Doesn’t See Beyond Her “Luxurious Bubble”
Collette plays Ylfa in the film.
COLLIDER: Toni, do you think your character is terrible? Do you think she knows she’s a terrible person, or does she just not care?
NAOMI ACKIE: That’s a good question.
TONI COLLETTE: I don’t think she cares. She’s too narcissistic to see beyond herself. I think she thinks she and her husband are doing the best for everybody.She doesn’t see beyond their own little bubble. Very colorful bubble. Very luxurious bubble.
ACKIE:Very, very luxurious bubble.
What Does Nasha See in Mickey?
“She gives him the time to reveal himself.”
Naomi, Nasha pretty quickly falls for Mickey. Did you come up with a reason why, or did director Bong actually tell you?
ACKIE: We never really figured out a reason why. It’s, I think, many different things. I think there’s an animal attraction. I think that she sees something in him that is quite special. I think, ultimately, she gives him the time to reveal himself as a really cool person, which no one else is doing on this ship. [Laughs] It’s kind of absurd that everyone’s just like, “Eh, you’re going to die anyway.”She gives him the time and becomes attracted to the person he is.That’s how I formulated it in my mind. To be honest, there were moments, because they are so unlike each other, that we were like, “How did they find each other?” But I think it’s cool that they did.
COLLETTE: Fate.
Director Bong Joon Ho Directs Moments Rather Than Scenes.
“At first, it was quite jarring.”
I’m a huge fan of the way Bong sets up his shots and his direction in general. Can you both talk about working with him and maybe which shot or sequence ended up being the one that was the toughest to pull off?
COLLETTE: I find it fascinating how he works. I had never worked this way before. He is completely aware of what the film is going to be before we even start. He’s edited it;he knows it shot by shot, moment by moment, so you never shoot entire scenes.It’s always just incremental moments. At first, it was quite jarring, but being able to really focus in on one moment and nail it is such a good feeling. He makes it so fun on set.
ACKIE: He does. It justrolls. It rolls on. You stop looking at it like scenes, and you start looking at it as moments instead.
COLLETTE: It’s like life. It’s moments.
ACKIE: Yeah, basically. For me, the hardest but most rewarding one was the prison scene because it took a really long time to do.
COLLETTE: How long did that take?
ACKIE: Took about a week. Maybe a week and a half.
COLLETTE: Did it?!
ACKIE: Yeah, because it was these open prison bar cells. Our incredible DOP [Darius Khondji] had to light it in very specific ways for each frame, so it just took a really long time to do.However, in that week and a half, I had so much fun.
COLLETTE: Locked in a cage? [Laughs]
ACKIE: Yeah!
COLLETTE: I think that was when I met you guys. I arrived to come and say hi and you guys were all locked up.
ACKIE: We were just in little cages, like, “Hi Toni!” But again, it’s just part and parcel, and you got really used to it. There was just something so easygoing about this set that I really didn’t anticipate.
