The Writer Discusses the Countless Unexpected Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia writer the writer barely recalls what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, considering he crafted the script for the director’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter says. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the differences are considerable. To start, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (The director cast his regular partner the actress in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit irrelevant.

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

Nevertheless, Tracy has plenty to say on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

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

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

He trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Creating the aliens and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials 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 high-tech visuals.

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

The goal was for them to seem oddly somewhat primitive or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to achieve in the script was a vision of the planet after humanity,” the writer explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the world continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a tragic ending, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a oddly hopeful or positive ending. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

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