The Writer Details the Many Unexpected Turns of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, since he crafted the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Instead of poring over the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie once, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I watched the original the one time,” Tracy explains. “My memory was foggy on the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the identical in both films, the differences are significant. Firstly, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (The director chose his regular partner the actress in the part.) The conclusions differ slightly as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that performs a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the subject. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may require multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to interpret all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Are people doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to offer a clear resolution in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic finale, a despairing 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.”

Bugonia is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.