Bugonia's Screenwriter Explains the Countless Surprising Twists of the New Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he penned the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter states. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the differences are significant. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, played by a man in the director's first version, as a woman. (The director cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

The screenwriter feels that answer is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that does one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of the movie.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She knew the second time someone sees this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

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

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and the original is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret these events is up for debate. Is the ending of the film optimistic or bleak? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Would the world be better off in our absence?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people find it to be a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly optimistic or positive ending. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

Bugonia is in select cinemas now, with a wide release on Halloween.