Bugonia's Writer Explains the Countless Surprising Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

The film writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, since he wrote the script for the director’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen the original once,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is pretty much the same in each movie, the differences are significant. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner the actress in the part.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, Tracy has plenty to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she transports to her alien vessel.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. During the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She 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. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her performance.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

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

The Andromedons’ attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the notion of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced method, with its aliens opting to eliminate all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be better off without us?

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

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a sad ending, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

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