Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Countless Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Sci-Fi Film

The film writer the writer barely recalls what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he crafted the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the film once, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor 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 variations are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

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

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the writer touched on the film’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

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

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He pauses, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Creating the Andromedons and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer shares was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

The goal was for them to seem strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their vessel: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humanity)

Perhaps the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its beings choosing to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a vision of the planet post-human existence,” the writer explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Some people see it as a extremely dark ending, or a sad ending, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people see it as being a oddly hopeful or happy conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

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