Bugonia's Writer Details the Numerous Unexpected Twists of the Latest Sci-Fi Movie

The film screenwriter the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, since he penned the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than poring over the original script for ideas, the screenwriter behind The Menu watched the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen Save the Green Planet the one time,” Tracy states. “I didn’t really remember the film in great detail. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or remaking or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in each movie, the variations are significant. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in the director's first version, as a woman. (The director chose his frequent collaborator the actress in the role.) The conclusions vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy believes that answer 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 toy that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

Nevertheless, Tracy has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter covered the film’s finale and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

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

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the end of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing 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 act where she felt she had to be aware of people watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer explains. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

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

Creating the aliens and their vessel

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

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

They should feel strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal was to go against conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually somewhat primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He adds that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the Earth (or just humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and the original is that in the first version, the aliens respond to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up the world. Bugonia adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all human life, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“My intention to achieve in the script was a depiction of the planet post-human existence,” the writer explains.

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were standing just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to interpret these events is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be better off in our absence?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a clear resolution either way.

“Some people find it to be a very bleak ending, or a tragic ending, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely hopeful or positive conclusion. I think there are various interpretations to understand it.”

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