The Screenwriter Discusses the Many Wild Turns of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” Tracy explains. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is mostly the identical in each movie, the differences are significant. To start, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that does a single trick, 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. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and Lanthimos collaborated to execute those surprises.

Warning: Complete details follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. During the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” Tracy says. "She was aware the second time someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows 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 reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel oddly kind of primitive or primitive.

The Andromedons’ clothing is just as interesting as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or only humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all human life, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth post-human existence,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the world continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to offer a clear resolution in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely hopeful or positive ending. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.