The Screenwriter Explains the Countless Unexpected Twists of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he crafted the script for the director’s latest reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of studying the source material for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work watched the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I watched the original the one time,” Tracy states. “I didn’t really remember the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the differences are notable. To start, Tracy rewrote the lead role, originally male in the director's first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

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

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

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to her performance. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel strangely kind of primitive or ancient.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He notes that the director “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures unharmed.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Certain viewers see it as a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic ending, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a oddly optimistic or positive conclusion. I think there's different ways to read it.”

The film is currently in limited theatrical release now, with a wide release on Halloween.