The Screenwriter Discusses the Countless Unexpected Twists of the New Sci-Fi Film

The film writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the movie a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy says. “My memory was foggy on the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or remaking 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 emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in each movie, the differences are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, originally male in the director's original, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy feels that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

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

However, he has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the writer covered Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Yes.

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. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may require multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer explains. "She knew the second time a person watches this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

They should feel oddly kind of tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler method, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a tragic ending, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or positive conclusion. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

The film is currently in select cinemas now, with a wide release on Oct. 31.