Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Many Wild Twists of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he wrote the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “I didn’t really remember the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the identical in each movie, the differences are notable. For one thing, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (The director chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really focused on the twist aspect,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that does one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has a lot to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. Throughout the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something very natural,” he says.

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler method, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“What I wanted to do in the screenplay was a vision of the planet after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or bleak? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

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

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he states. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive ending. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.