The Writer Explains the Countless Unexpected Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he penned the screenplay for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than analyzing the original script for ideas, the writer behind The Menu viewed the film once, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy says. “I didn’t really remember the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the identical in each movie, the differences are significant. For one thing, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in the director's original, as a woman. (The director chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that answer is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. Our discussion with the writer touched on the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details follow for the ending of the movie.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (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 testament to her performance. During the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may require several rewatches 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 viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” the writer explains. "She knew the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her acting.”

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

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

The Andromedons’ clothing is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a vision of Earth post-human existence,” the writer explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Are people doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

The screenwriter does not wish to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak 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's different ways to read it.”

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