Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Many Wild Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer the writer barely recalls what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he wrote the script for the director’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than 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 Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy says. “I didn’t really remember the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or remaking or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the variations are considerable. Firstly, the writer rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (The director cast his regular partner the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the film to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has plenty to say on the topic. The interview with the writer touched on the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in the original film, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a layered portrayal that may take several rewatches to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

Tracy trails off, before continuing, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

Once the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

The goal was for them to seem oddly kind of tribal or ancient.

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

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Perhaps the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler method, with its aliens opting to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the Earth and its other inhabitants unharmed.

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

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed 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? Would the world be better off without us?

The screenwriter does not wish to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people see it as a extremely dark ending, or a tragic ending, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Other people see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.