Robert Pattinson, and multiple other versions of his self, are shedding his thick-skinned Twilight and Batman characters to take on the role of various renditions of Mickey Barnes. Mickey 17, a sci-fi offering of the high order is hitting the theatres on March 7, 2025, thanks to Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho’s maverick style.
As always, Robert Pattinson revealing sides to himself never seen before
Ahead of the film’s big premiere, Pattinson and Bong toured South Korea to promote their upcoming movie. This particular chapter of the promotional route allowed fans to see a side of the American actor like never before. Rob pulled out the cutesy gestures (‘aegyo’) of his own accord, making finger/hand-hearts at every turn. The Hollywood star proved that he’s a living shape-shifter, thanks to his acting chops that significantly distance his goofy real-self from his big-screen brooding avatars.
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In 2023, the Twilight standout pulled off a similar magic trick, shocking the world with his voice acting for the most unbelievably unexpected character in legendary anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning feature, The Boy and the Heron’s English-dubbed version. Not ‘The Boy,’ but ‘the Heron.’
When the English voice casting roster first came out, fans instantly assumed that it was either Mark Hamill or Willem Dafoe who had gone full angry bird for this masterpiece. Fans didn’t even recognise Pattinson’s voice when the anime feature’s trailer first came out. The shocking discovery ultimately made for a jaw-dropping epiphany that hit fans like a wrecking ball. Not to forget, it was Robert’s first voice acting role.
The actor to be reckoned with is now ready to add a new feather to his hat by partnering up with Bong Joon Ho.
Robert Pattison admits anime inspired his Mickey 17 performance in some way
Earlier this month, Pattinson and other officials of the film, including the noteworthy director himself, were at the Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival that went on from February 13-23, 2025. During a press conference in Germany, someone asked him about the kind of inspirations the Mickey 17 star had relied on to propel his character’s progress.
To put it simply, they asked him if anime, especially his previous contributions to the memorable Studio Ghibli-Miyazaki feature had somehow seeped into the brand-new project. “Miyazaki, not exactly, but I was definitely getting some references from like… anime. Just in the kind of discordant mood-changes,” he replied.
“Especially for Mickey 18, where you just kind of go from zero to 100 incredibly quickly,” he added. “I always really like that in anime when you just suddenly have someone entirely static, and suddenly they’re furious out of nowhere. I think I was trying to do some kind of emulation of that, I guess.”
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Even though Pattinson didn’t blatantly drop anime titles he looked at as a reference, he admitted to the medium impacting his work in one way or another. Mickey 18, as he was referring to, is introduced as a replacement for one of Mickey Barnes’ clones, “Mickey 17.”
Other inspirations for Mickey 17’s physical comedy
In addition to speaking of anime, Robert turned to his director’s own old classic, Memories of Murder, for inspiration. Talking about how he channelled comedy for his new character, he said, “There’s something about the way Bong does physical comedy which I really liked. Even in crowd scenes, I really noticed it in the scene in the cafeteria… He can even kind of (somehow) get everybody to move in a certain way… You just start doing it. It was something I wanted to see if I can try and do.”
Tom & Jerry to the rescue
In yet another interview video with Rotten Tomatoes, the actor probed into the inspirations behind his Mickey 17 performance. “The more you dig into the story, it’s incredibly sad but it’s just not told in a sad way, at all,” he explained.
In order to capture such a tone, he ended up looking at the classic childhood cartoon staple, Tom & Jerry, which despite being filled with “brutality” is presented as “humour all the time.” The “cavalier attitude towards pain” also led him to Jackass: The Movie, teaching him the “dive in head-first” way of working with his character.