Bugonia's Writer Details the Countless Unexpected Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he crafted the screenplay for the director’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” the screenwriter says. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in each movie, the variations are considerable. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a woman. (The director chose his regular partner the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy feels that answer is a bit irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has plenty to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

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

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in the original film, the end of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex performance that may require multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the aliens and their vessel

After the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or just humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to do in the script was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be better off without us?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers see it as a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a oddly optimistic or positive conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is currently in select cinemas now, with a wide release on Halloween.