Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Countless Unexpected Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he penned the script for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the film a single time, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter states. “My memory was foggy on the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in each movie, the differences are notable. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's first version, as a female character. (The director chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit not the main focus.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that performs a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. Throughout the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer explains. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Creating the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something quite organic,” he comments.

They should feel oddly kind of tribal or ancient.

The aliens' attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“What I wanted to do in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were standing just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia hopeful or pessimistic? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic ending, a despairing ending,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a oddly hopeful or happy conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is currently in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.