The Screenwriter Details the Numerous Surprising Twists of the Latest Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, considering he penned the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than poring over the source material for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie once, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy 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 both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in each movie, the differences are significant. For one thing, Tracy rewrote the executive character, played by a man in the director's first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy feels that answer is somewhat beside the point.

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

However, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the 118-minute film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered portrayal that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time 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 think,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

The goal was for them to seem strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked 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 aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak ending, or a sad finale, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Other people see it as being a oddly optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

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