Bugonia screenwriter the writer doesn’t really remember what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than poring over the source material for ideas, the writer behind his previous work watched the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.
“I’ve only seen the original once,” Tracy says. “I didn’t really remember the film all that well. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them be judged separately.”
While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is pretty much the same in both films, the variations are significant. To start, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?
Tracy believes that resolution is somewhat beside the point.
“I never was really concerned with the twist aspect,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”
However, Tracy has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director worked together to bring those twists to life.
Warning: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.
Short answer: Absolutely.
Just like in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (Plemons) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.
The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour movie, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to comprehend entirely.
“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to think,” Tracy says. "She knew the second time a person watches this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”
He pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”
After Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer shares was meant to look like a sea creature while steering clear of high-tech visuals.
“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” he comments.
The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat primitive or ancient.
The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to go against 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 highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”
Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all human life, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures unharmed.
“What I wanted to achieve in the screenplay was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” Tracy explains.
In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of existence across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were standing just before, but the Earth keeps spinning. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?
Tracy does not wish to provide a clear resolution either way.
“Some people find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Other people see it as being a strangely optimistic or happy conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”
Bugonia is in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Halloween.
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