An unexpected collaboration that will surely excite fans worldwide: Steven Yeun joins Robert Pattinson in Bong Joon Ho's next sci-fi thriller. While the upcoming film does not have a title yet, the story is reportedly based on Edward Ashton's most recent novel, Mickey7, which was published in February 2022.
The Warner Bros. project will mark the director's first English-language movie in five years. It will also reunite Yeun and Bong, who previously worked together in the 2017 Netflix action-adventure film Okja. In addition to Pattinson and Yeun, the cast features Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie.
While details surrounding Yeun and Pattinson's roles remain unclear, the Twilight alum will likely play the protagonist. The film's plot is also being kept under wraps, but according to the book's publisher, the story is a mixture between The Martian and Dark Matter. It follows Mickey7, a disposable employee on a human expedition to colonize Niflheim, the ice world, who refuses to let his replacement clone (a.k.a Mickey8) take his place. Deadline broke the news of Yeun joining the cast of Bong's new film.
Besides directing, Bong is also penning the script, although it's unclear how faithful it will be to the source material. The forthcoming project will be Bong's first feature since 2019's Parasite, which became the first non-English movie to take the Best Picture award home at the Oscars. In addition to Parasite and Okja, Bong is known for directing critically acclaimed films like Snowpiercer, The Host, and Barking Dogs Never Bite.
So far, 2022 has proven to be a busy year for Yeun. The actor will appear alongside Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele's highly-anticipated alien thriller Nope, which arrives in theaters on July 22. The plot follows siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood, heirs to the first and only black-owned horse training ranch in Hollywood, as they attempt to capture video evidence of the UFO that's terrorizing the residents of their town with the help of tech salesman Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) and documentarian Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott).
Yeun's breakout role was as Glenn Rhee in AMC's The Walking Dead, which recently debuted an exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in New York City. The actor appeared in the horror drama for 7 seasons before his exit in 2016. Since then, Yeun has appeared in multiple acclaimed projects, including 2020's Minari, in a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Yeun's filmography is proof of his acting skills, which, paired up with the talent of colleagues like Pattinson and Colette, could have great results under Bong's direction.
The Mickey7 adaptation is in pre-prodution.
Source: Deadline