Bugonia's Writer Explains the Numerous Surprising Twists of the New Sci-Fi Movie

The film writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, given that he crafted the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter states. “My memory was foggy on the film all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in both films, the variations are significant. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, originally male in the director's first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details ahead for the ending of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the end of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. After tricking her captor the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

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

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat tribal or ancient.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, 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 states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all human life, while keeping the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia hopeful or pessimistic? Is humanity doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Other people see it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.