Bugonia's Writer Explains the Numerous Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer doesn’t really remember what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he penned the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“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 slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. 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 kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the differences 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 cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit irrelevant.

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

However, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She 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. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” Tracy says. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The Andromedons’ attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the script was a vision of Earth post-human existence,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret these events is open to discussion. Is the ending of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Other people see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

The film is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.