Bugonia's Writer Explains the Many Wild Twists of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, since he crafted the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than analyzing the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched 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 all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is pretty much the identical in both films, the variations are significant. Firstly, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit beside the point.

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

Nevertheless, he has plenty to say on the subject. The interview with the writer touched on the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details ahead for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. Throughout the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance 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 perceive,” Tracy says. "She was aware the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the aliens and their vessel

Once Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” he says.

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous robes made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off without us?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a clear resolution either way.

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

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release at present, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.