Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Many Surprising Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

Bugonia screenwriter the writer barely recalls what happens in the original Korean movie. It's a little surprising, since he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work viewed the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I watched the original once,” Tracy states. “I didn’t really remember the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel as though I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a business leader he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the identical in each movie, the differences are considerable. For one thing, Tracy rewrote the executive character, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (The director chose his regular partner the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not really?

Tracy feels that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

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

Nevertheless, Tracy has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to execute those surprises.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details ahead for the ending of the movie.

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in the original film, the end of Bugonia reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor the unstable man (the actor) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered portrayal that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” the writer explains. "She was aware the second time someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

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

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer says. He adds that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the idea of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler method, with its beings opting to eliminate all human life, while keeping the planet and its remaining creatures intact.

“What I wanted to achieve in the script was a vision of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. Every person are deceased where they were located just before, but the world continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Certain viewers find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a tragic finale, a hopeless outcome,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or positive conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Halloween.