Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Numerous Unexpected Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, considering he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the film once, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” the screenwriter explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in each movie, the variations are significant. Firstly, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner the actress in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter feels that answer is a bit beside the point.

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

However, he has plenty to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

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

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about 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 upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

After the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel oddly kind of tribal or ancient.

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

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its beings choosing to snuff out all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to do in the script was a depiction of Earth post-human existence,” Tracy explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of these events is up for debate. Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic finale, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

The film is currently in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Halloween.