The Writer Explains the Many Surprising Turns of the New Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, since he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy explains. “My memory was foggy on the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in both films, the variations are considerable. To start, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

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

“I never was really focused on the twist aspect,” 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: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has a lot to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s finale 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 conclusion of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour movie, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma 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. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” he says.

They should feel oddly kind of tribal or primitive.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of 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 adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens 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 script was a vision of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer either way.

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic ending, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely hopeful or happy ending. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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