The Screenwriter Explains the Many Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer barely recalls what happens in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, since he crafted the screenplay for the director’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the film a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or honoring another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in the new version) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is pretty much the identical in both films, the variations are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, played by a man in the director's first version, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has plenty to say on the subject. Our discussion with the writer covered the film’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of the movie.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“She 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 perceive,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

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

They should feel oddly somewhat primitive or ancient.

The aliens' attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its beings choosing to snuff out all human life, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the script was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

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

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.