Bugonia's Screenwriter Explains the Countless Wild Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer doesn’t really remember what happens in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the film once, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy 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 remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in the new version) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in each movie, the differences are notable. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that performs a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has a lot to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a layered performance 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 aware of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her performance.”

Creating the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He notes that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up the world. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler approach, with its beings choosing to eliminate all human life, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the script was a vision of the planet after humanity,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

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