Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Many Wild Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, considering he penned the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of poring over the original script for ideas, the writer behind The Menu watched the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” Tracy explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. I didn't want 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 basic plot of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in both films, the variations are considerable. Firstly, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a gadget that does one surprise, 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. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details ahead for the ending of the movie.

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of this version discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. After tricking her captor Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

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

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy comments.

The goal was for them to seem oddly somewhat tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat primitive or primitive, 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 disliked the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to make of these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be better off without us?

Tracy does not wish to provide a clear resolution either way.

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

The film is currently in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.