The Writer Discusses the Many Unexpected Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy barely recalls what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he penned the script for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in both films, the variations are notable. To start, Tracy re-envisioned the lead role, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner the actress in the part.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat irrelevant.

“I never was really focused on the twist aspect,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to say on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered the film’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. During the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He pauses, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

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

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were standing 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 Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Some people see it as a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Halloween.