Mickey 17 is quite an offbeat dark comedy for Robert Pattinson. He portrays an “expendable” who dies and is repeatedly cloned for dangerous space missions until he confronts one of his clones. As soon as the sci-fi movie’s first trailer premiered, you couldn’t ignore the British actor’s unexpectedly distinctive new voice. If you’re curious where the Remember Me actor got his Mickey 17 voice from, he credits Jackass’ Steve-O, and now I can’t unhear it.
If I were to describe Robert Pattinson’s voice as Mickey Barnes, I would say it’s a bit raspy and quirky. There's almost an underdog quality of being unsure of what life throws at you, but you still go along with it all. That's all the more reason why Pattinson is perfect to play Bong Joon-ho’s character, who’s constantly thrown in death-defying missions. As to where Pattinson drew inspiration from, here's what he told Capital Buzz TikTok:
We talked about this TV show Jackass, which I was obsessed with growing up. There was something I liked about the relationship between two characters, Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville. And like Steve-O was this guy who would constantly be hurting himself all the time and be really enthusiastic about doing it and it didn't really make any sense. And it's kind of, it just popped into my head one day, and I was kinda trying to do his voice and then I sort of morphed into this other thing.
That makes so much sense! As Steve-O has received the worst injuries in the Jackass franchise, you can hear this chaotic energy in the stunt performer's voice whenever a prank goes horribly wrong. I can tell Robert Pattinson tries to mirror Steve-O’s raspiness, enthusiasm, and reckless energy. You can almost hear the weight of all of the dangerous missions this “expendable” has been through in the authentic voice he created. Now, that’s true talent.
Robert Pattinson is the perfect example of an actor who heavily alters their voice for a role. Just when you thought it was a stretch for the British star to talk in an American accent for the Twilight movies, he donned a French accent for Netflix’s The King, which certainly got fans talking. In his role as a detestable pastor in The Devil All the Time, Pattinson surprised the cast and crew with his deep Southern accent that he waited to debut on the first day of shooting. Hey, if you’re gonna wow a film set as well as an audience, you might as well go big.
And we can’t forget about the dark, brooding voice the high-grossing actor used for The Batman. Robert Pattinson felt that sounding like the Caped Crusader came out ”organically” as he kept getting more into character. Director Matt Reeves even made sure Pattinson’s “Bat Voice” was the same as his alter ego Bruce Wayne’s for audiences to further connect with the iconic character. With all of the voices Pattinson comes up with for his characters, it shows how much he understands the roles he embodies and wants to bring something unique and layered to each one.
Now that I know that Pattinson’s Mickey 17 voice came from Jackass’ Steve-O, now that’s all I'll be able to hear out of the Good Time actor when I see the book-to-screen adaptation. Well, as the darkly comedic character does go through some Jackass-type scenarios that are more dangerously scary to go through compared to intentionally funny, I think Pattinson picked a good muse to draw on.
You can take a listen to the London native’s unrecognizable voice in the upcoming 2025 movie release in theaters on March 7th.
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