The Screenwriter Details the Countless Wild Twists of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia writer the writer barely recalls what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he penned the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Instead of studying the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the movie once, took a few notes, and got to work.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter states. “My memory was foggy on the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel like 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 mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is pretty much the identical in both films, the differences are notable. To start, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner the actress in the part.) The conclusions differ slightly as well, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that answer is somewhat not the main focus.

“I never was really focused on the surprise element,” 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: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Complete details follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour movie, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance 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 upon a repeat viewing a person watches this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

He trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” he says.

They should feel strangely kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the goal was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, 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 beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a vision of Earth after humanity,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to make of these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be better off without us?

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

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless ending,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive ending. I think there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.