The Writer Explains the Many Unexpected Twists of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer Will Tracy barely recalls what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he wrote the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the source material for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the differences are significant. Firstly, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

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

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She talked a lot about how it was the initial instance 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 perceive,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

He pauses, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her performance.”

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” Tracy says.

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal 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 basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up the world. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a vision of Earth after humanity,” 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 located just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Is the ending of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to offer a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

Bugonia is in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.