The Writer Explains the Countless Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Sci-Fi Film

The film writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, given that he penned the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in each movie, the variations are significant. To start, Tracy rewrote the executive character, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (The director cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that resolution is somewhat not the main focus.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. Throughout the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character 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 sea creature while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel oddly kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its beings opting to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic ending, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy conclusion. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

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