The Screenwriter Explains the Countless Wild Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he crafted the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than analyzing the source material for ideas, the writer behind his previous work watched the film once, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I watched the original the one time,” Tracy says. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the differences are notable. For one thing, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat not the main focus.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he comments. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

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

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

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

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She was aware the second time someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

He pauses, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her performance.”

Creating the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was meant to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to achieve in the script was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” Tracy explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to interpret all this is up for debate. Is the ending of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a definitive answer either way.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Halloween.