The Writer Discusses the Numerous Surprising Twists of the New Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what transpires in the original Korean movie. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than poring over the original script for inspiration, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the film once, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy says. “My memory was foggy on the film all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the same in both films, the differences are considerable. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, originally male in the director's original, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a toy that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, Tracy has a lot to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the writer touched on Bugonia’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in the original film, the end of Bugonia discloses that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

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

“She 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. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He trails off, before adding, “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 quick look of her ship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” Tracy comments.

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat tribal or ancient.

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He notes that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the world (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to achieve in the screenplay was a vision of the planet post-human existence,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to offer a definitive answer either way.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to understand it.”

Bugonia is currently in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Halloween.