Bugonia's Screenwriter Explains the Countless Wild Turns of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy barely recalls what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he penned the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of studying the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in each movie, the variations are considerable. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (The director chose his regular partner the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit too, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy believes that resolution is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really focused on the twist aspect,” he comments. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that performs one surprise, 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. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and the director worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she transports to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed 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. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the aliens and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel strangely somewhat tribal or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced method, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

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

“Some people see it as a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly optimistic or positive conclusion. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

The film is currently in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.