The Screenwriter Discusses the Many Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he penned the script for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie once, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I watched Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy explains. “I didn’t really remember the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the differences are significant. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in the director's first version, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit beside the point.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a toy that performs a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy 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 the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details follow for the ending of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She frequently discussed 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 explains. "She knew the second time a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their spaceship

After the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which the writer shares was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem strangely kind of primitive or ancient.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative 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 extremely old society. He disliked the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the planet and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” the writer says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or bleak? Are people doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be improved without us?

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

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing ending,” he states. “Other people see it as being a oddly optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

Bugonia is in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.