Bugonia's Screenwriter Details the Countless Surprising Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer Will Tracy barely recalls what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, considering he crafted the screenplay for the director’s new adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the film once, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or remaking or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in both films, the variations are considerable. To start, the writer rewrote the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter 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 movie to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, he has a lot to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates 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 proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy comments.

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or ancient.

The aliens' attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia 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. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of these events is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film hopeful or bleak? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

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

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

The film is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Halloween.