Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Countless Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film writer the writer doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he crafted the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter says. “I didn’t really remember the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the variations are notable. For one thing, the writer rewrote the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (The director cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that does a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

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

In brief: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. Throughout the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“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. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the second time a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He trails off, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her performance.”

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After the CEO finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all human life, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” Tracy explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a sad ending, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is in limited theatrical release now, with a broader opening on Halloween.