The Writer Details the Many Surprising Twists of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

The film writer the writer doesn’t really remember what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, considering he crafted the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Instead of analyzing the source material for ideas, the writer behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched the original the one time,” Tracy states. “I didn’t really remember the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the variations are significant. To start, Tracy rewrote the lead role, originally male in the director's original, as a female character. (The director chose his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an alien in disguise or not?

Tracy believes that resolution is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really focused on the surprise element,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the movie to just be a gadget that does a single trick, and then after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. 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 ahead for the conclusion of Bugonia.

Therefore, is Emma Stone an alien or not?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of Bugonia discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is actually alien royalty in disguise. After tricking her captor Teddy (the actor) into ending his own life using her advanced device, she transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex 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 viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She was aware the second time someone sees this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He trails off, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

After the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her ship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their vessel has a unique design, which Tracy shares was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-type design for the spaceship, something very natural,” Tracy says.

The goal was for them to seem oddly kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is just as interesting as their vessel: rounded robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, instead of being futuristic, 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 unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He adds that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or only humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its beings choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the script was a depiction of the planet after humanity,” Tracy explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of existence across the planet. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the world continues. How viewers, are meant to make of all this is up for debate. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Are people fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Would the world be better off in our absence?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Some people see it as a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic finale, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely hopeful or happy conclusion. In my opinion there are various interpretations to understand it.”

Bugonia is currently in limited theatrical release at present, with a wide release on Oct. 31.