The Writer Details the Many Surprising Turns of the Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film writer the writer has a hazy memory of what happens in Save the Green Planet!. It's a little surprising, given that he wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. Rather than studying the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the film once, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I watched Save the Green Planet once,” Tracy explains. “I didn’t really remember the movie in great detail. My aim wasn't to feel like I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them be judged separately.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (Jesse Plemons in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is largely the same in each movie, the differences are considerable. To start, the writer rewrote the lead role, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the role.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they tackle their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter feels that answer is a bit beside the point.

“I wasn't really concerned with the twist aspect,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a toy that does one surprise, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

However, he has plenty to discuss on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and its implications, along with the methods he and the director worked together to execute those surprises.

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

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

In brief: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named her character, is in fact alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller transports to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a proof to her performance. During the two-hour movie, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take multiple viewings to fully understand.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the first time she had to give a performance where she felt she had to be conscious of people watching the movie a second time. What the repeat viewers are going to think,” the writer explains. "She knew the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… understand?”

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

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

Once the CEO ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before Bugonia ends. Their ship has a distinct appearance, which Tracy shares was intended to look like a marine animal while avoiding high-tech visuals.

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

The goal was for them to seem strangely somewhat tribal or primitive.

The Andromedons’ clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to defy conventional science fiction.

“Regarding the attire, rather than 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 elegant creation on those strange knit costumes,” the writer says. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being smooth and metallic, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or just humankind)

Perhaps the biggest difference between Bugonia and Save the Green Planet is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a slightly subtler method, with its aliens choosing to eliminate all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants unharmed.

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

In the film's conclusion, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. Every person are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are supposed to make of all this is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Are people doomed or worth saving? Would the world be better off without us?

The screenwriter isn’t willing to provide a definitive answer either way.

“Some people find it to be a very bleak ending, or a sad ending, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely optimistic or happy ending. I think there's different ways to read it.”

The film is in limited theatrical release at present, with a broader opening on Halloween.