Naomi Ackie On Mickey 17, Playing “Unhinged” & Who’s Doing Nasha’s Braids In Space

Naomi Ackie gets to be weird in Mickey 17. Onscreen, that’s rare for a Black woman. And Ackie knows that the ability to star in a sci-fi blockbuster, directed by acclaimed auteur Bong Joon Ho (Parasite), opposite Robert Pattinson, as an “unhinged in the best of ways” character is an opportunity that, while deserved, doesn’t come often in Hollywood – especially for actors who look like her. As Nasha, the love interest to Pattinson’s aloof Mickey, she plays a security agent who is as protective as she is unfiltered and, as she put it, “unhinged.” Nasha is wild, extremely weird, and an enforcer in a futuristic universe where civilian space travel to another planet sets it apart from our current reality, but a psychotic tyrannical politician with a god complex (Mark Ruffalo’s Kenneth Marshall) makes it feel eerily familiar. Adapted from Ashton Edward’s 2022 science-fiction novel, Bong’s quirky and ferociously entertaining Mickey 17 tells the story of an out-of-luck underachiever, Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), who accidentally volunteers to travel to a new planet to act as a guinea pig on a spaceship, meaning that he dies repeatedly, and each time he does, his body is regenerated (when the movie opens, he’s gone through the process, you guessed it, 17 times) through a 3D printer — memories and all — to do it all over again. 

While Mickey is clueless, compliant, and a bit dense, Nasha is clever, confident, and fearless. Nasha could easily be relegated to a girlfriend-of-the-hero stereotype, a disposable plot device, but in Bong’s script, she’s assertive, motivated, and layered. And in Ackie’s hands, Nasha leaps off the page and dazzles on screen. It’s a role her peers would probably be clamouring for, but after proving herself for years in projects like Lady Macbeth, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, Blink Twice and as the lead in the Whitney Houston biopic, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Bong Joon Ho came to her. 

“I tend to assume no one like that is gonna work with me,” Ackie tells Unbothered over Zoom from New York, in between other press commitments for Mickey 17. She’s wearing a green tie and a striped dress shirt, her hair slicked into a long braid cascading down her left shoulder, and her signature, stunning gap-toothed smile on full display. She laughs easily and doesn’t seem to fully comprehend yet that she’s one of the most sought-after performers of her generation. “It was actually a really cool surprise when I found out [Bong] even knew who I was and when he gave me the script, it was so up my alley and completely my taste,” she continues. “Nasha as a character that is just so cool and so unhinged in the best of ways that I was like, yeah, I will absolutely do anything to be a part of it. I love pieces of work that feel complicated and have not one but a few strong messages and big questions.”

Mickey 17 is strong in its anti-authoritarian message and asks a lot of big questions. What does death feel like? What makes a person: their body, their memories, their will to live? How would you stand up to colonization? Would you have a threesome with double Robert Pattinsons if you got the chance? How bizarre can Bong Joon Ho’s brain go? Those answers make for an exhilarating, absurd ride. While Mickey 17 is, by all accounts, a showcase of Pattinson’s unquantifiable talent, it’s also a stunning display of how reliably formidable Naomi Ackie is. She’s one of the brightest talents working right now, and the weirder she gets, the more wonderful it is to watch. Here, she talks about what playing Whitney Houston taught her, the legacy of Blink Twice, developing chemistry with Pattinson in Mickey 17, that threesome scene, and who was doing Nasha’s braids in space. 

NA: The first thing that happened was I was told by my team that Bong Joon wanted to talk to me and this was the year after Parasite had won [Best Picture]. I had just seen it a few months before and was blown away. I know some actors have a list of people that they want to work with, but I don't make a list, because I tend to assume no one like that is gonna work with me. So it was actually a really cool surprise when I found out he even knew who I was. When he gave me the script, it was so up my alley and completely my taste. I love pieces of work that feel complicated and have not one but a few strong messages and big questions. It felt stylistic and thematic. And Director Bong has such a strong language to his work. His language is very much his own. He's a genre all of his own. And then Nasha as a character that is just so cool and so unhinged in the best of ways that I was like, yeah, I will absolutely do anything to be a part of it.

NA: I know exactly what you're talking about. When I'm talking to my team I call it the “Honey, when are you coming home?” character [laughs]. I will never be playing a character like that in my life. I was so attracted to how surprising Nasha was. There's another trope of the lady who kicks butt. She's cool. She's like stomping around, a sci-fi lady with a gun on her hip. That is cool too, don't get me wrong. I love that [character], but this felt more than that. She's someone who doesn't filter herself. She's someone who is really free on the inside, like she ain't judging herself. She's not watching herself like we have been taught to do, and those impulses push her through the story. It's like a propeller. 

I think what's really amazing about Director Bong, the writing is such that the characters’ personalities propel them through the story. Only skilled creators can do that. Without these characters, the story couldn't happen. Nasha was so full of this interior world that you see glimpses of. For me, it was that last scene. Without giving anything away, she really shows who the fuck she is. It was the button for me. [After I read that] I was like, Yeah, I have to play this. She's full of life. After playing a few characters beforehand that were really concealed with their intentions because they had to be. In Blink Twice, and to a certain extent, playing Whitney Houston, those are characters that are holding in their emotions and this felt like the opposite of that.

NA: Yeah, she has an eye. I am not going to mention names here, but you know how you see some people talking on TV and you know what's up before anyone else does? I said it to my boyfriend one time, I'm like nah, something don't smell right about him. I just know it. I feel it. That's Nasha. She’s like “nuh uh, something ain’t right.” It’s the inner wisdom [as a Black woman]. You just know, you just know when something’s up. Nasha doesn't fall for that on this ship, because she knows. And I know what you mean, her Blackness isn't explicit in that way. Although, without giving anything away, I specifically requested in a scene where I'm sleeping in bed that I am wearing a bonnet, because we were like, how do Black girls fly in space, especially with your braids? I just knew she would have had two suitcases full of Xpressions [braiding hair].

NA: Yeah, and if she was smart, she would do human hair so she could wash it. 

I love this because I've talked to other Black actresses who say that a lot of character building starts with the hair. Like where is this person getting her hair done? How is she doing it? 

NA: Where is she getting her hair done! [laughs]. And how, in this terrain, would that [hair] work? You can't be doing a hairstyle that’s like a slick back every day, especially with my 4C hair. It would take forever. It’s too much effort. Too many products. I need to let the hair breathe. 

I do think that hair is a part of it all as well, especially when looking at sci-fi. Afrofuturism is something I'm so interested in, and I actually want to explore that more, even in work that I make myself. Black people of the future. How do we thrive in that space, with our culture, our history? This role was important to me, even for that reason, like being a Black woman in this space where her Blackness isn't pushed as an issue. It's not about her Blackness. She just so happens to be Black and I think adding these things to the conversation really helps in very small but pointed ways.

NA: Because not everything needs to be so straight laced or predictable. I have always felt like a weirdo though and through. That speaks to the roles that I've played and most of the jobs I've done. I never felt like I belonged to a certain group or culture. I don’t mean Black culture, but music cultures and stuff like that. I was very eclectic, a bit of a social butterfly, but never felt like I belonged anywhere. And I think in terms of acting, maybe that's helped, because I don't feel like I belong to any genre. I don't feel like you're an action hero. I'm just a character actor. I'll do anything if it works. I don't belong to any genre or any person. I'm just floating so the weirder, the better, because it's also more challenging to me. For me, it’s how can you make something that feels abstract and surreal and potentially absurdist feel like a story that people can hook on to? That's more of a challenge sometimes then when you do a job that is very grounded and naturalistic. But I’ve got a beautiful film coming that’s like that. I’ll do basically anything.

NA: I’ve been very privileged. What I hope for a lot more actors of color is that they get that opportunity too. I actually don't know how it's worked for me in this way. I didn't do it on purpose, but I'm so happy that this has been my work life so far. Because it is about opportunity, We're not always the first [studios] go to when it comes to risk taking. The kind of stuff that’s progressing the idea of filmmaking and edgier stuff still usually leans on actors who are white, and that's cool, but let's add some more to the conversation. It's never about subtraction. It's just about adding more people to the conversation and getting people to broaden their minds. Come on guys!

NA: Or political! It's not actually. My life as a Black woman is really amazing. It's not that political on a day to day basis, unless I choose it to be. But there is freedom. I’ve really changed my attitude on what it is to be Black. I'm not focusing on the stuff that's hard as much anymore, not because it doesn't exist. It has its space, and I give it its space, but it’s also about focusing on the joys of being Black, the freedom that I have I've been afforded by our ancestors, to get to this place. Now it's about celebration. I can do whatever I want. We can do whatever the fuck we want.

NA: We know similar people, but never met before. There's a thing that I wonder whether other actors do when you're just hanging out, but you're doing two things at the same time. You're like, hanging out to get to know each other, but your second brain is figuring out dynamics of your characters and how they could work together. But it's not a purposeful thing. We never talked about their dynamic. We never talked about how it worked. That's already on the page. We've just got to figure out how we vibe and then you get on set and try things out. 

Nasha and Mickey feels like a real fun relationship. I think it's also the writing. You're thrust so quickly into their relationship. They're such different people. Director Bong said, “I want them to feel like a reversal of the normal, traditional [gender] roles." Nasha has an amazing masculinity to her, and  Mickey 17 has this femininity to him. How they work together feels like a play on what the normal tropes are. 

NA: Probably not. I don’t think it’s going to get out of hand. I feel like it's going to be fine.

NA: People are going to be so chill about it. Everyone, remain calm! It's so funny. At the premiere, my dad was there, my boyfriend was there, and it was like what order do you want everyone to sit in? And I was like, as long as my boyfriend is on one side and my dad is on the other and I can do this [puts hands over her eyes] and cover their eyes, we're good, which I did do.

That’s hilarious. I mean the scene makes a lot of sense in the story. It felt like it was necessary?

NA: All the scenes are necessary. It makes sense. And also, I'm like, good for you, Nasha! What would anyone do? Seriously, it's like, when you say, what would you do if you woke up as a dude, the first thing you say is, I would look down at my dick [laughs]. Probably touch it! So in that scene, you're immediately like, yes, sis, I understand. Understood.

NA: I am so in Zoe [Kravitz]’s corner. What I hoped for [Blink Twice] was that this was the launch pad for her creativity. And I think it's done that, and it's done great, and there are more and more people who are watching it. I do think the subject matter and how it's communicated, I think it's hard to talk about. Like, how do you feel about something that is talking about something so serious, but it's also entertaining? And what does that say? I love that film so much, and what Zoe did with it was impeccable. I wonder whether society, on a whole, or, like the movie Gods, were ready for it. 

That film is going to last a long time in the zeitgeist. I don't think it's going anywhere. I think it's going to be something that people go back to. I'm so excited to see what Zoe makes next. Zoe's going to be one of those big directors, I might have to be like, please put me on the cast list. I'll be number 75. I don't care!

NA: Those women are just the coolest, best women in the world. We have plans. It was the wildest set. Boots [Riley, the director]  is an incredible creative man, director, musician. He’s just incredible. It was hectic and chaotic and beautiful. And I literally cannot wait for that film to come out. I think it's going to be a game changer. Keke is amazing. I'll sing that woman's praises from every room. I adore her. Taylour Paige too.

NA: I'm more resilient than I thought I was. I took on a lot, and it was such an interesting time where I thought I couldn't handle what I actually could. In terms of the industry, I learned that you have to be able to look after yourself. And I think on a whole, that was the lesson for me. It was like, oh, I need to figure out a way to sustain this level of work where I am looking after myself first, and then whatever creativity I have left over for work is what I have. So it was a lot about figuring out how I advocate for myself in a way that I don't think Whitney was able to when she was alive. 

NA: I hope so. Yeah, that was a special time; hard time, but special.

NA: What's bringing me joy is that in two months I'm taking time off. I came straight off of Blink Twice, then I had gone to LA to do reshoots for the Whitney Houston biopic, and then I was straight into [Mickey 17]. I was so tired. I am very looking forward to — and have learned how to look forward to —  rest. I'm very excited to take some down time, do my therapy, get my gym routine back in order, and just really collect my creative energy back again and save it just for myself and just live. And then whenever jobs come back, they'll come back. That is a joyful space to get to decide to rest. I feel very privileged for that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 
Mickey 17 is in theatres now.