Bugonia's Screenwriter Discusses the Many Wild Twists of the New Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he crafted the script for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the original script for ideas, the writer behind his previous work viewed the movie once, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter explains. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the variations are significant. Firstly, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (The director chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a gadget that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. After tricking her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” the writer says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem oddly kind of primitive or ancient.

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer states. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings opting to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“My intention to do in the script was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the world keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic ending, a hopeless outcome,” he says. “Other people see it as being a oddly hopeful or happy ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.