Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Numerous Unexpected Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he wrote the screenplay for the director’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of studying the original script for ideas, the writer behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy explains. “My memory was foggy on the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the differences are significant. To start, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the movie 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 plenty to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of the movie.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may require multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She 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 watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer says. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

The goal was for them to seem oddly kind of primitive or ancient.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or just humankind)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to do in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

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

“Certain viewers see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a sad finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

Bugonia is currently in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Halloween.