The Writer Discusses the Countless Unexpected Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, since he wrote the screenplay for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of poring over the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the film a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter explains. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in both films, the differences are significant. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (The director chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The conclusions differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film 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?”

However, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the writer covered the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. Throughout the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect this awareness in her acting.”

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the vessel, something very natural,” Tracy says.

They should feel oddly somewhat primitive or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying the world. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to do in the script was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” the writer explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were standing just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Is humanity doomed or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer either way.

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people see it as being a oddly hopeful or happy ending. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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