20 Brilliant Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films Where Actors Play Opposite Themselves

Bong Joon Ho returned with another English-language film last year, adapting Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7 into a sci-fi blockbuster starring Robert Pattinson. Pattinson tends to avoid the run-of-the-mill big movies these days, which is why his first major studio film in years is far from conventional.

He stars as Mickey, a downtrodden, down-on-his-luck, and overlooked nice guy who signs up to be a disposable crew member with a space vessel setting out to colonise ice planet Niflheim. Once on board, Mickey is tasked with doing all the dirty and dangerous work nobody else wants to do, which often results in his death. Thankfully, they’ve got a human 3D printer on board, and they just load up Mickey's memories and personality, and fire off a new one as required. But, after he manages to survive a presumed-doomed mission on the planet’s surface, Mickey 17 returns to find Mickey 18 has already been printed - leaving the pair with a conundrum, because multiples aren’t permitted.

Each Mickey has his own unique quirks and personality traits, and Pattinson did an excellent job of rendering each copy distinct, especially when he had to play directly opposite himself as 17 and 18.

How did the actor manage to keep them apart in his head? By first trying to make the two versions of himself Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville from Jackass. And when that didn’t work, by imagining he was playing Ren and Stimpy…