The Writer Details the Many Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Instead of studying the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie once, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or remaking or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in both films, the differences are significant. For one thing, Tracy rewrote the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (The director chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

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

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers ahead for the ending of the movie.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“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 viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer explains. "She was aware the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” he says.

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures unharmed.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the world continues. How viewers, are supposed to interpret these events is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

Tracy does not wish to offer a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to understand it.”

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.