Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Countless Unexpected Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Film

The film writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, considering he crafted the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Instead of poring over the source material for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in both films, the variations are significant. For one thing, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy feels that answer is a bit not the main focus.

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

However, he has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and its implications, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details ahead for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

After the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat primitive or basic, 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 notes that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or just humanity)

Perhaps the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up the world. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to make of these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a clear resolution either way.

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy ending. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

Bugonia is currently in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.