Bugonia's Screenwriter Explains the Countless Wild Twists of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, since he crafted the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than analyzing the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy says. “I didn’t really remember the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who kidnaps a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the variations are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat not the main focus.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a toy that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has plenty to discuss on the topic. The interview with the writer touched on the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Warning: Complete details follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

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

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to her performance. During the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“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 watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He pauses, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem strangely kind of primitive or primitive.

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

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings opting to snuff out all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to do in the script was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved in our absence?

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

“Certain viewers see it as a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely hopeful or happy conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

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