12-03-2025
Sci-fi story goes from page to screen, with a Rochester twist
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Hitting the box office March 7, 'Mickey 17' – based on the novel 'Mickey 7,' which has a direct connection to Rochester.
The sci-fi story follows space colonist Mickey Barnes, who signs up to be an expendable, taking on the most dangerous tasks. If these tasks kill him, worry not, a clone of himself will take his place.
The author of 'Mickey 7,' Edward Ashton, grew up in West Virginia before moving to Rochester 35 years ago. He says that writing novels has always been his dream.
'I've wanted to be an author as long as I can remember wanting anything,' Ashton explained. 'I started writing stories when I was a really young child, seven or eight years old. I wrote my first novel when I was 12, 220 pages long, written out in pencil on thick lined notebook paper.'
Ashton published his first novel in 2015. His debut novel had some success, but after his second book failed to sell, his agent told him that his third project would be his last shot. 'Mickey 7' was then born. Just 22 days after publication, the project was optioned for a film by Warner Brothers Motion Pictures, and just a few months after that, Ashton was contacted by Bong Joon-Ho, a award winning director, best know for his work on the 2020 film 'Parasite.'
Before he knew it, Ashton was watching the premiere of 'Mickey 17,' starring Robert Pattinson, at The Little Theatre here in Rochester.
'Being at the Little and seeing 270 people in a packed house and knowing that probably 200 of them were my friends,' Ashton said. 'I can't describe how that filled my heart with joy.'
Ashton draws inspiration from many places, but most of the time, he says it begins with an image that gets stuck in his head.
'In the case of this book, the image that was stuck in my head, was a man, trapped, injured, freezing at the bottom of an icy crevasse,' Ashton said. 'I don't know who he is, I didn't know how he got there, I didn't know what was going to happen to him.'
The major difference between the film and the book can be seen in the titles. Ashton says that he was told the switch came because director Joon-Ho wanted a longer death montage scene. In the novel, the reader is introduced to Mickey 7 right away, but in the film, the viewer gets to see Mickey's 1 through 16 die in tragic and comedic ways, hence the name 'Mickey 17.'
'It is different than the book, and I knew it would be different from the book. Film is different than literature, there is just no way around that, but he (Bong Joon-Ho) really did capture the heart of the book,' Ashton explains. 'The heart is a relationship between Mickey Barnes and Nasha, who is his love interest. Mickey has a really unique life, because his job is to die, and he dies over and over again. That is really hard for him, but it's really hard for someone who loves him as well.'
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'Mickey 17' topped the box office in its opening weekend. The novel, 'Mickey 7,' along with its sequel, 'Antimatter Blues,' are available for purchase at most major book retailers.
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