Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Many Wild Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what happens in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched the original the one time,” Tracy explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is mostly the identical in both films, the variations are considerable. Firstly, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a gadget that does a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has a lot to say on the subject. The interview with the writer covered the film’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may take 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 conscious of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, 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 sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“What I wanted to do 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 globe. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely hopeful or positive conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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