The Writer Discusses the Many Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Movie

The film writer the writer barely recalls what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he wrote the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in both films, the differences are significant. For one thing, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

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

However, he has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered portrayal that may require multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She knew the second time a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her acting.”

Creating the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy says.

They should feel oddly somewhat primitive or ancient.

The Andromedons’ attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or just humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens opting to snuff out all human life, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

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

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely hopeful or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is currently in select cinemas now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.