Bong 'provides boundaries but loves you within them': Steven Yeun

'Mickey 17' cast discusses bringing humanity to Bong Joon-ho's meticulously crafted sci-fi vision

From left: Director Bong Joon-ho, actors Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun and producer Choi Doo-ho pose for a photo at at a press conference for "Mickey 17" held in Seoul, Thursday (Yonhap)

"Mickey 17" rolled out its second wave of promo events at Seoul's Megabox Coex on Thursday, with director Bong Joon-ho showing up alongside Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, and Steven Yeun. Robert Pattinson had already swung through last month for his own press stint.

The sci-fi tale, hitting Korean theaters Feb. 28, follows a disposable worker on a frozen planet who is freshly reprinted each time he bites the dust.

Mark Ruffalo steps into the shoes of Kenneth Marshall, a washed-up politician looking to cook up his own little kingdom among the stars. His turn as the colony's head honcho — dialed up to eleven with a distinctly slick vibe — had the actor second-guessing himself at first.

"I was very surprised when I was asked to do the part," he says. "I read it and thought, 'Am I reading the right part?'" While his character's Trump-like tendencies are hard to miss, Ruffalo claimed he aimed much wider. "We didn't want him to be anyone in particular — we wanted him to be everyone. He's an archetypal dictator."

The actor couldn't help but marvel at how the film has aged into greater relevance. "Who knew that God would be as influenced by movies as we are?" Ruffalo muses. "Three years later, this movie is more relevant than it was when we shot it."

For Naomi Ackie, playing Nasha — a tough-as-nails security officer who falls hard for Mickey — let her cut loose in unexpected ways. "It's rare you get to play characters that are just themselves," she says, praising the role's straightforward nature. "Usually characters are made with secrets."

Steven Yeun, fresh off "Beef," had to dig deep to find the humanity in Timo, Mickey's orphanage buddy and a furnace worker. "On the page when you read it, everybody hates him," Yeun says. "It took conscious work to be like, okay, but how do I love this person?"

The cast uniformly praised Bong's signature storyboarding process, in which he maps out practically every shot ahead of time with detailed sketches. "I've never worked from a storyboard," Ruffalo says, crediting Bong's doodles for unlocking parts of his character the script alone couldn't reach. Yeun chimed in about Bong's sweet spot between structure and freedom: "He provides the boundaries but ultimately loves you within that frame."

Beyond the technical precision, the conversation repeatedly circled back to the film's underlying humanity, the question as to what makes us human. "The best leaders and even the best heroes are the people that aren't seeking glory," Ackie points out. "The ordinary being extraordinary — everyone is capable of making a change in their lives, but it doesn't have to be a huge heroic thing."

Ruffalo visibly lit up when he discussed the film's focus on collective resistance against state violence. "What do we have but the power of the people?" he asks. "And what is at the basis of that power is our love for each other." He points to the film's celebration of the unassuming heroes.

"It's the people who aren't at the front, aren't here, aren't in the camera — those are the people who actually make the change."