Bugonia's Writer Explains the Many Unexpected Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, since he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the source material for ideas, the writer behind his previous work watched the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in each movie, the variations are significant. Firstly, the writer rewrote the lead role, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that performs one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the subject. The interview with the writer covered Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the conclusion of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she transports to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex performance that may require several rewatches 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. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

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

Creating the aliens and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

They should feel oddly somewhat primitive or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up the world. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler method, with its beings opting to eliminate all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“What I wanted to achieve in the script was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers see it as a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Other people see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive ending. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

Bugonia is currently in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Halloween.