The Screenwriter Discusses the Many Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he crafted the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than poring over the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie a single time, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following 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 Bugonia) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the differences are considerable. For one thing, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is a bit beside the point.

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

However, he has a lot to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and its implications, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of the movie.

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

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 complex performance that may take 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 explains. "She was aware the second time a person watches this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, 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 vessel, something quite organic,” he comments.

They should feel strangely kind of primitive or ancient.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He notes that the director “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 conclusion of the world (or only humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a sad finale, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Other people see it as being a oddly optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

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