Bugonia's Writer Details the Countless Wild Turns of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he penned the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched the original once,” Tracy explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the identical in each movie, the differences are considerable. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter feels that answer is a bit irrelevant.

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

Nevertheless, he has a lot to discuss on the topic. The interview with the writer covered the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers ahead for the ending of Bugonia.

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to her performance. During the two-hour movie, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to give a performance 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 someone sees this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

The goal was for them to seem oddly somewhat tribal or ancient.

The aliens' attire is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the notion of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

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

“Some people see it as a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or happy ending. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

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