Bugonia's Screenwriter Discusses the Countless Wild Twists of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

Bugonia screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, since he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than analyzing the source material for ideas, the screenwriter behind his previous work viewed the movie a single time, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film 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 fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in each movie, the differences are considerable. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a female character. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit too, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really concerned with the surprise element,” he says. “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: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has plenty to say on the topic. The interview with the writer touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

So is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is actually a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. Throughout the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a complex portrayal that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

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

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

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia ends. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something quite organic,” he says.

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to go against conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear strangely somewhat tribal or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that Lanthimos “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 world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its beings opting 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 Earth after humanity,” the writer explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the planet. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved in our absence?

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

“Some people find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic finale, a despairing ending,” he says. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to understand it.”

Bugonia is in limited theatrical release now, with a broader opening on Halloween.