The Writer Discusses the Countless Wild Turns of the Latest Sci-Fi Movie

The film writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he crafted the screenplay for the director’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched the original the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or remaking or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the differences are significant. For one thing, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (The director cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The conclusions vary a bit too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

Tracy believes that resolution is a bit beside the point.

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

Nevertheless, he has plenty to say on the subject. Our discussion with the screenwriter 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.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered portrayal that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance 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,” the writer says. "She was aware the second time a person watches this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the aliens and their vessel

After the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” Tracy says.

They should feel strangely somewhat tribal or ancient.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

“My intention to do in the script 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. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be better off in our absence?

Tracy does not wish to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy conclusion. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.