The Screenwriter Details the Numerous Unexpected Turns of the New Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia writer the writer barely recalls what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he penned the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter says. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the differences are notable. To start, the writer rewrote the executive character, originally male in the director's original, as a female character. (The director cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The conclusions differ slightly as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy feels that answer is somewhat not the main focus.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a toy that performs a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the topic. The interview with the writer touched on the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

Therefore, is the character an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of this version reveals that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware of that in her acting.”

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 Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

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

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humanity)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“My intention to do in the script was a vision of the planet post-human existence,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were standing just before, but the world keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy ending. I think there's different ways to read it.”

Bugonia is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.