WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Mickey 17.

Robert Pattinson’s accent in Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 is one of the most unforgettable parts of his dual performance as Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. The film acts as Bong Joon-ho’s highly anticipated follow-up to the Best Picture winner Parasite following a 5-year gap between his last two film releases. Although Mickey 17 isn’t nearly as critically acclaimed as Parasite, it still has a relatively solid Rotten Tomatoes score of 78%. The film is based on the 2022 novel Mickey 7 but Mickey 17 has many big changes from the book.

Since his Twilight and Harry Potter days, Pattinson has taken on all sorts of roles as both a dramatic and comedic actor. Many viewers will recognize him as the latest live-action version of Bruce Wayne in 2022’s The Batman​​​​​​. Pattinson has also starred in the Christopher Nolan action thriller Tenet (2020), the Oscar-nominated psychological horror The Lighthouse (2019), and the Safdie Brothers’ critically acclaimed heist movie Good Time. While Mickey 17 is considered a sci-fi adventure movie, it’s also a dark comedy, marking a rare comedic performance from Pattinson.

Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 Accent Is Hilarious

It Makes Mickey Much More Naturally Comedic

Robert Pattinson’s accent as Mickey Barnes in Mickey 17 is an unusual but hilarious feature of Pattinson’s performance. Pattinson has altered his voice in his performances before, particularly for The Batman, but none of his previous characters have ever sounded quite like Mickey, who has a sort of squeaky New York-inspired accent. It simply makes everything he does in Mickey 17 funnier because the accent is undeniably humorous, especially coming from someone like Pattinson. The closest accent to his Mickey 17 one can be heard in Good Time, in which his character Connie Mikas speaks with a high-pitched city-inspired tone.

Mickey provides a lot of voiceover content throughout Mickey 17, so Pattinson’s accent is truly unmissable and sometimes inescapable. It paints Mickey in a gentler light as someone who might be uninspired or nervous, which checks out considering his gruesome profession as an Expendable. Mickey has died sixteen brutal deaths leading up to his appearance in Mickey 17, so his soft-spoken demeanor makes sense.

The accent certainly adds to the comedic value of Pattinson’s character. If Pattinson had just gone with his normal speaking voice for the character, Mickey would have been received in an entirely different way and may not have been as effective. The book does not note that Mickey had a distinct accent so Pattinson came up with it on his own.

Steve Buscemi Inspired Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 Accent

Buscemi Was “Blown Away” By The News

Pattinson revealed that the inspiration for his distinct accent in Mickey 17 was none other than Steve Buscemi’s performance as Carl Showalter in the Coen Brothers’ Oscar-winning film Fargo (1996). According to Variety, Pattinson accidentally took inspiration from the Buscemi character and only realized it long after production had wrapped. “I actually think I realized today what I was doing,” he revealed back in February. “I kind of did it by accident, but I don’t think I realized that until today. I thought I was doing something else.”

Pattinson explained this Fargo revelation further, “We were doing an interview earlier and Bong said one of the thoughts he was having for [Mickey] 18 was Peter Stormare from ‘Fargo.’ And then I think how that went into my head was to do Steve Buscemi as 17.”

This news got around to the Emmy-winning Buscemi himself, who discussed it with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m kind of blown away that happened. I’m not sure if that’s what he meant or if he was inspired by my accent, my voice or the way my character spoke. Without seeing the film, I’m not sure what he’s referring to but I’m blown away by it.”

Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 Accent Continues A Great Trend

He’s Done All Sorts Of Accents & Even Voice Acting In His Previous Films

Pattinson is actually quite well-versed in performing with various voices in his numerous film characters. Compared to someone like Denzel Washington or Mark Wahlberg who mostly maintains their natural speaking voices in their films, Pattinson has a much wider range of voices that he employs depending on the character. This makes him a versatile voice actor as well – he provided the voice for The Grey Heron in Studio Ghibli 2024 Best Animated Feature Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron. He also did a southern U.S. accent in The Rover (2014) and a French one in The King (2019) before starring in Mickey 17.

Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter