Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Many Unexpected Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy barely recalls what happens in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of poring over the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in both films, the differences are notable. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, originally male in the director's original, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is somewhat not the main focus.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want 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, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the topic. The interview with the screenwriter touched on the film’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 conclusion of Bugonia.

So is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about 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 think,” Tracy says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a vision of Earth after humanity,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were standing just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

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

“Some people find it to be a very bleak ending, or a sad finale, a hopeless outcome,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

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