The Writer Details the Countless Surprising Twists of the Latest Sci-Fi Movie

Bugonia writer the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, considering he penned the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the original script for ideas, the writer behind his previous work viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and got to work.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” the screenwriter states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie in great detail. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking 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 (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in both films, the variations are significant. To start, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in the director's original, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has a lot to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers follow for the ending of Bugonia.

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

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of this version reveals that the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She knew the second time someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy trails off, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their spaceship

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy comments.

The goal was for them to seem oddly somewhat primitive or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat tribal or basic, and yet also quite ornate and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up the world. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler method, with its beings choosing to eliminate all human life, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” 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 moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are supposed to make of these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer either way.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Other people see it as being a oddly optimistic or happy ending. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

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