Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Numerous Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Movie

The film writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the screenplay for the director’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the same in each movie, the variations are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is somewhat not the main focus.

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

However, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and its implications, along with the ways he and the director worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details follow for the conclusion of the movie.

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” the writer says. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or only humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a vision of Earth post-human existence,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were standing just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Would the world be better off without us?

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

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic ending, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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