The Screenwriter Discusses the Numerous Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

The film writer Will Tracy doesn’t really remember what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he wrote the script for the director’s new adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than poring over the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work viewed the movie a single time, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy says. “I couldn't clearly recall the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the identical in each movie, the variations are notable. To start, Tracy rewrote the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his regular partner the actress in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an extraterrestrial or not?

The screenwriter feels that resolution is a bit irrelevant.

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

Nevertheless, Tracy has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the writer touched on the film’s finale and its implications, along with the ways he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for the conclusion of the movie.

Therefore, 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 the CEO, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is in fact 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 Andromedon spaceship.

The fact that this is unexpected is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“She frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people viewing it again. How those rewatching are going to perceive,” Tracy says. "She knew the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… understand?”

He pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware this awareness in her performance.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her true nature, we get a brief glimpse of her ship and fellow aliens before the film ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a marine animal while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” he comments.

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

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

“For the costumes, instead of being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel strangely kind of primitive or basic, and yet also quite ornate and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He notes that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of any element being smooth and metallic, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The end of the world (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the aliens react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by blowing up the world. Bugonia takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

“What I wanted to do in the screenplay was a depiction of Earth after humanity,” Tracy says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were located just before, but the Earth continues. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or bleak? Are people fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be improved without us?

Tracy does not wish to provide a clear resolution in any direction.

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark conclusion, or a sad ending, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Other people see it as being a oddly hopeful or positive ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

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