Berlinale 2025: “Sci-fi is more about the scent of characters rather than spaceships or lightsabers,” Bong Joon-ho said.
Bong Joon-ho, through the sci-fi genre, shows us that we are all human.
The entire press industry flocked to the press lounge as soon as the film Mickey 17 ended at the 75th Berlinale, to get the best seats and catch a glimpse of the Korean filmmaker and actors Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, and others.
It didn’t matter to the press that the entourage was delayed in reaching the press site. Brimming with questions, the bevy of journalists, including me, waited to see the smiling Bong Joon-ho, who, after a long wait (five years to be precise), had given the world something to look forward to in his latest Hollywood offering, Mickey 17.
“The director will speak only in Korean,” said the moderator, and thus the press conference began, with the film’s actors praising Bong Joon-ho, giving us a glimpse into what it meant to work with him—funny, kind, involved, and allowing the script to evolve through conversations on set, yet always prepared.
Bong Joon-ho couldn’t help but smile as he answered questions about dealing with love for the first time in this film. “It has melodrama and also a kind of love that I built up between Mickey and Nasha.” He added that this film belongs to the sci-fi genre and is about space travel, an expedition, and colonizing a planet. “It’s about making a colony on a planet. It’s about the future, but it’s also about the present. It’s also about the history of history. It’s sci-fi, so it’s about fantasy, but it’s also about our future.” He further added, “I think that’s the charm and the reason I believe Mickey and the other characters are very realistic. They smell like humans. I think sci-fi is more about the scent of characters rather than spaceships or lightsabers. I wanted it to be about the scent of characters wearing holes in their socks and how that reflects who we are in the present.”
Bong Joon-ho also spoke about his sources of inspiration. “There are a lot of sources of inspiration. Even now, when I look at your faces, a lot of ideas and inspirations come to mind. As a writer-director, I’m always screenwriting. So, the source of inspiration is everywhere. In fact, the film is based on Edward Ashton’s wonderful novel, Mickey7. Everything started from there. Warner Bros. and Plan B sent me the novel. I was lucky enough to be able to write the script for it. There’s a concept of human printing in the original novel. That itself is the starting point of everything. It’s a condition that shouldn’t exist. You can’t print people. There’s already a very inhumane situation there. That’s the premise of the novel. The combination of humans and printing brings up a lot of tragedies and comedies. That’s where I got a lot of inspiration.”
The director was very direct about the character played by actor Mark Ruffalo, explaining that he was, in fact, a combination of many things that have happened in the past, particularly the feeling of dictators. “All the bad politicians that we have experienced—we mixed them in a very interesting way. To be honest, there were some people that could be a reference: some politicians in Korea, some politicians in the U.S. They were all politicians of the past, not current politicians. But those who watch the movie seem to imagine some politicians from the present. In my opinion, the characters that were inspired by the past, in the end, seem to be from the present because history repeats itself. The past, the present, and the future keep spinning like a wheel, so no matter what you create from the past, it reflects the present and the future.”
Bong also let out a secret about a genre he could never attempt. “I don’t think I can do a musical. This time, too, in this film, I have tried to use love—I have never done a love story or melodrama before, but it’s a genre I’ve always wanted to try. I want to try all genres except musicals.”
Mickey 17 is presented as a Special Gala screening in Berlin following its world premiere on February 13th in London.
Film Fest Report is an accredited media at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.
