The Writer Discusses the Many Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

The film writer the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he penned the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work viewed the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” the screenwriter says. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in each movie, the differences are considerable. To start, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (The director chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

“I never was really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a toy that does a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the subject. Our discussion with the writer covered Bugonia’s finale and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may require multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed 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 think,” the writer says. "She knew the second time someone sees this movie, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” he comments.

They should feel strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy states. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to do in the script was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans lie dead where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

The screenwriter does not wish to provide a definitive answer in any direction.

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

Bugonia is in select cinemas at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.