The Writer Discusses the Countless Unexpected Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Movie

The film writer Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that he wrote the script for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the original script for inspiration, the writer behind his previous work watched the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and started the process.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy says. “My memory was foggy on the film all that well. I didn't want to feel like I had to be slavishly following or recreating or honoring another filmmaker's work. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a mentally unstable man (the actor in Bugonia) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical executive he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is mostly the same in each movie, the variations are significant. Firstly, the writer re-envisioned the lead role, played by a man in Jang Joon-hwan’s original, as a female character. (The director cast his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings vary a bit as well, in the way they tackle their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy feels that answer is a bit 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 after the reveal, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

However, he has plenty to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter covered Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the ways he and the director collaborated to bring those twists to life.

Spoiler Alert: Complete details follow for the ending of Bugonia.

Therefore, is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Yes.

Just like in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (Plemons) into ending his own life using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her Andromedon spaceship.

The reality that this comes as a surprise is a testament to her performance. During the 118-minute film, she maintains suspense through a complex portrayal that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“Emma frequently discussed how it was the initial instance she had to act where she felt she had to be aware of people viewing it again. What the repeat viewers are going to perceive,” Tracy explains. "She knew the second time a person watches this film, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

Tracy pauses, before continuing, “Thus, her performance needed to reflect of that in her acting.”

Designing the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character finally does reveal her real identity, we get a quick look of her ship and other extraterrestrials before Bugonia concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which Tracy reveals was intended to look like a sea creature 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 oddly kind of tribal or primitive.

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous robes made from thick, woven cords. Again, the goal was to defy conventional science fiction.

“For the costumes, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually somewhat primitive or primitive, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those strange knit costumes,” Tracy says. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the notion of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Perhaps the most significant change between the new film and Save the Green Planet is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and mistreatment by blowing up planet Earth. This adaptation takes a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens choosing to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“What I wanted to achieve 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 existence across the planet. All humans lie dead where they were located moments earlier, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to interpret these events is up for debate. Does the conclusion of the film optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Is the planet be improved in our absence?

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

“Some people find it to be a extremely dark ending, or a sad finale, a hopeless outcome,” he states. “Other people view it as being a strangely hopeful or positive ending. I think there are various interpretations to read it.”

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