Bugonia's Writer Discusses the Many Wild Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film screenwriter the writer doesn’t really remember what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, given that he penned the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new adaptation of the original 2003 film. Instead of poring over the original script for ideas, the writer behind The Menu watched the movie a single time, took a few notes, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy explains. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating 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 (the actor in the new version) who abducts a business leader he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is mostly the same in each movie, the variations are considerable. For one thing, Tracy rewrote the lead role, originally male in the director's first version, as a woman. (The director chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the part.) The endings differ slightly too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not really?

The screenwriter believes that answer is somewhat beside the point.

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

However, he has a lot to say on the topic. The interview with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods 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: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact alien royalty in hiding. After tricking her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the 118-minute film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“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 watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” Tracy explains. "She knew the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

Tracy pauses, before adding, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once Stone’s character finally does reveal her true nature, we get a quick look of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something very natural,” he says.

They should feel strangely somewhat primitive or ancient.

The Andromedons’ attire is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of primitive or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” the writer states. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humanity)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the Earth and its remaining creatures intact.

“What I wanted to do in the screenplay was a vision of the planet after humanity,” Tracy explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of existence across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the world continues. What we, as an audience, are supposed to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or bleak? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to provide a clear resolution either way.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely hopeful or positive ending. In my opinion there's different ways to read it.”

Bugonia is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.