Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Countless Unexpected Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

The film writer Will Tracy barely recalls what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, since he penned the script for the director’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu viewed the film a single time, took a few notes, and started the process.

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

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in both films, the differences are considerable. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in the director's first version, as a woman. (The director cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has a lot to discuss on the subject. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel oddly somewhat tribal or ancient.

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens opting to eliminate all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were standing just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to interpret all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or bleak? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

Tracy does not wish to provide a definitive answer either way.

“Certain viewers see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

Bugonia is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Halloween.