Bugonia's Screenwriter Discusses the Numerous Surprising Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

The film writer Will Tracy barely recalls what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, given that he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy states. “My memory was foggy on the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in each movie, the differences are significant. Firstly, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in the director's first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the writer touched on the film’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers follow for the ending of the movie.

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time 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 think,” the writer says. "She was aware the second time a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

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

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

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

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all human life, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention 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 planet. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to make of 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 isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Certain viewers see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless outcome,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.