Bugonia's Writer Details the Countless Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

The film screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he crafted the screenplay for the director’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the source material for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie once, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is pretty much the identical in each movie, the variations are considerable. Firstly, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” 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: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the writer touched on Bugonia’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 conclusion of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel oddly somewhat primitive or ancient.

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

“Regarding the attire, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up the world. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a tragic ending, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.