Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie Join Parasite Director Bong Joon-Ho's New Movie

Avengers star Mark Ruffalo is among a number of big-name Hollywood stars who have joined the cast of Bong Joon Ho's next film, which is based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Ruffalo, Toni Collette (Hereditary), and Naomi Ackie (The End of the F--king World) will join a cast that already includes The Batman star Robert Pattinson, according to a report that dropped on Friday. The film, which is currently untitled, is set up at Warner Bros. Bong will write, direct ,and produce the film, which reteams him with Brad Pitt's Plan B.

According to Deadline, who first reported the casting, the novel "follows Mickey7, who is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there's a mission that's too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it."

The report says that Bong became "loosely attached" to the adaptation late last year, and ultimately decided over the holidays that Pattinson was perfect for the lead role. This is Bong's first project since Parasite, which hit in 2019 and became a massive critical and commercial hit, becoming the first non-English-language film to earn the Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay, along with the International Feature Film award. 

Bong is hardly a one-trick pony; he previously made Snowpiercer and The Host. The Warner Bros.-owned TNT airs the Snowpiercer TV adaptation. Warner Bros. Discovery also has a Parasite miniseries set up at HBO from executive producers Adam McKay and Kevin Messick.

Ackie, who gained mainstream attention after her role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, was tapped to star as Whitney Houston in th eupcoming biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Collette, a critical darling since Muriel's Wedding, recently appeared in the HBO Max limited series The Staircase and in Searchlight's Nightmare Alley. Ruffalo, a Marvel Cinematic Universe regular, last appeared in Netflix's The Adam Project, and is set to reprise his role as Bruce Banner in the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney At Law series on Disney+.

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