Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Numerous Wild Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film writer the writer doesn’t really remember what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, considering he penned the script for the director’s new adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than poring over the original script for inspiration, the writer behind The Menu watched the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the same in both films, the differences are notable. Firstly, Tracy rewrote the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (The director cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a gadget that performs a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, he has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the writer covered the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

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

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that Lanthimos “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 just humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all human life, while keeping the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia hopeful or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved in our absence?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Other people see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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