Bugonia's Writer Details the Numerous Unexpected Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, considering he crafted the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of studying the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work viewed the film a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter says. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in both films, the differences are significant. Firstly, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he comments. “I didn't want the movie to just be a gadget that performs a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. During the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her performance.”

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

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

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

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

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually 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 says. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the world continues. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a sad ending, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a oddly hopeful or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

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