The Screenwriter Discusses the Many Surprising Twists of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Film

Bugonia writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the source material for ideas, the writer behind The Menu viewed the movie once, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter states. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an alien in disguise is largely the same in each movie, the variations are significant. Firstly, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in the director's original, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is the character an alien in disguise or not really?

The screenwriter believes that answer is somewhat irrelevant.

“I wasn't really concerned with the twist aspect,” he says. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has plenty to discuss on the subject. The interview with the writer covered Bugonia’s ending and its implications, along with the ways he and Lanthimos collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Complete details follow for the conclusion of the movie.

So is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller transports to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. During the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to fully understand.

“Emma talked a lot about how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” Tracy says. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

Tracy pauses, 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 spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of futuristic aesthetics.

“[The director] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-type design for the vessel, something quite organic,” Tracy comments.

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

The Andromedons’ attire is equally fascinating as their vessel: rounded dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Again, the goal was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being futuristic, 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,” Tracy states. He notes that Lanthimos “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He wasn't into the notion of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the biggest difference between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and abuse by blowing up the world. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler approach, with its beings opting to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the planet and its remaining creatures unharmed.

“My intention to do in the screenplay was a vision of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the globe. Every person lie dead where they were standing just before, but the Earth continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret these events is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film hopeful or pessimistic? Are people doomed or deserving of rescue? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy isn’t willing to offer a clear resolution in any direction.

“Certain viewers see it as a extremely dark ending, or a tragic finale, a despairing outcome,” he says. “Other people view it as being a oddly hopeful or happy ending. In my opinion there's different ways to understand it.”

The film is in select cinemas now, with a broader opening on Oct. 31.