Bugonia's Writer Explains the Many Surprising Twists of the New Sci-Fi Movie

The film screenwriter Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he penned the script for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than poring over the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the identical in both films, the differences are considerable. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, originally male in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter feels that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to execute those surprises.

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

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to her performance. Throughout the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

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

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel strangely kind of primitive or ancient.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a vision of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is up for debate. Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be better off in our absence?

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

“Some people see it as a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

Bugonia is currently in select cinemas now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.