The Screenwriter Details the Many Surprising Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy barely recalls what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he penned the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than analyzing the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I watched the original the one time,” the screenwriter states. “I didn’t really remember the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the identical in each movie, the differences are considerable. For one thing, the writer rewrote the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he comments. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that does one surprise, 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. Our discussion with the writer covered the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“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 viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "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 continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The Andromedons’ clothing is just as interesting as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying planet Earth. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be better off without us?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a oddly optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

Bugonia is currently in limited theatrical release now, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.