Quick View
Celebrated director Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi movie Mickey 17 has stirred the conversation with the leading character’s similarity with Donald Trump. It is impossible not to make the connections with the current events going around the world.
The movie, starring Mark Ruffalo, features a flamboyant and flailing politician, leading a space expedition to colonize an ice planet. Does it sound familiar? Let’s see what the director and the actors have to say.
The film dives into the themes of technology, human cloning, and social hierarchy. It introduces the audience to a future where human cloning is a routine, featuring the character Mickey Barnes, played by Robert Pattinson.
He is an ‘Expendable’ who undergoes several deaths and resurrections to perilous tasks. On the other hand, the presence of Kenneth Marshall, played by Ruffalo, adds layers of satire, tension, and prompts the viewers to question which real-world figure the character is inspired by.
Director clarifies a mosaic of influences from all the world leaders of all time
While addressing the swirling speculations, director Bong Joon Ho clarified that the character of Marshall is not directly related to Trump, but is a collection of several world leaders we have seen throughout history. In an interview to Entertainment Weekly, he said:
When we showed the film in Berlin and talked to people from many different countries, it seemed like people were projecting the most stressful political leader onto the character of Marshall. (The character) is a mix of many different politicians and dictators that we have seen throughout history.
To address the character of Toni Collette, he mentioned:
They move as a couple. To me, that was quite important. So think about the Ceausescu couple from Romania and the Marcos couple from the Philippines. It’s always very uncanny when dictators move as couples. It makes them even more ridiculous and more terrifying. And it’s true love that [the characters] have.
The intentional amalgamation of the world leaders in the characterization of Marshall made the character a universal symbolism of political egotism, rather than the depiction of a specific individual.
Ruffalo’s interpretation of Marshall
Mark Ruffalo‘s perception on the character of Marshall added another layer to the discourse. Reflecting on the role, Ruffalo mentioned that he initially thought that the role was a bit exaggerated but the current scenarios have changed his viewpoint. In a late-night NBC show, he mentioned:
I play a petty dictator. At the time, we shot it three years ago, and I thought this is over the top. And now, I realize it’s totally underplayed.
His observation underscores the evolving nature of politics and how art can inadvertently hold a mirror to the real-world developments.
Though first intended as a hyperbolic symbolism, Ruffalo’s performance has resonated more deeply with the contemporary political figures, flashing similar traits to the audience.
Perception of the audience
Despite the clarifications from the director, the audience continued to draw the similarities between Marshall and Donald Trump. This can be attributed to the demeanor of the character, along with the timing of the movie’s release in a politically driven environment. Bong Joon Ho has noted that the people have projected their anxieties and tension related to the current political scenario.
‘Mickey 17’ Director Bong Joon-Ho On Idea Donald Trump Inspired Mark Ruffalo’s Villain & Who The Character Is Actually Based On https://t.co/agBkZzIArm
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 5, 2025
These projections highlighted the subjective nature of art’s interpretation where the viewer’s personal opinion has influenced their understanding of the character’s narrative. The speculation of the audience has also been about the movie’s effectiveness in portraying a picture of a multifaced dictator, mirroring various political archetypes. This has definitely allowed a broader critique of the power dynamics in leadership.
Though the portrayal of Marshall in Mickey 17 has evoked some similarities between the character and the current president of the U.S., both the director and the actor have addressed that it is a collective approach of all the previous world leaders. This emphasizes how the universal characteristics of authoritarian leaders are the same, which makes the movie’s satire timeless.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
