The Screenwriter Details the Many Surprising Twists of Emma Stone's Latest Science Fiction Film

The film screenwriter Will Tracy has a hazy memory of what happens in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, considering he penned the screenplay for the director’s new reimagining of the 2003 Korean dark sci-fi comedy. 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 got to work.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” the screenwriter states. “I couldn't clearly recall the movie all that well. My aim wasn't to feel as though I had to be faithfully adapting or recreating or honoring someone else's vision. The fairest thing to both films was to have them exist independently.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in the new version) who kidnaps a business leader he’s convinced is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the same in each movie, the variations are significant. For one thing, the writer rewrote the executive character, played by a man in the director's first version, as a female character. (The director chose his regular partner Emma Stone in the part.) The endings vary a bit too, in the way they address their central question: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that answer is somewhat beside the point.

“I wasn't really focused on the twist aspect,” he comments. “My intention wasn't for the film to just be a toy that performs a single trick, and then once it does that surprise, it's like: Alright, so what's next?”

Nevertheless, he has a lot to say on the subject. The interview with the screenwriter touched on the film’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and the director worked together to bring those twists to life.

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

So is the character an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Yes.

Similar to in Save the Green Planet, the conclusion of this version reveals that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named Michelle Fuller, is actually alien royalty in disguise. Once she manipulates her captor the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her teleportation technology, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The fact that this is unexpected is a testament to her performance. During the 118-minute movie, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may require several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“She talked a lot about how it was the first time 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 explains. "She knew the second time a person watches this movie, They know that I know that I'm… you know?”

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

Designing the Andromedons and their spaceship

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their vessel has a distinct appearance, which the writer reveals was meant to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

“[Yorgos] was really fascinated by almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the vessel, something very natural,” he says.

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their vessel: bulbous dress-like garments made from large, ropey threads. Once more, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, instead of being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] appear unusually kind of tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's a very detailed and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” the writer states. He adds that the director “thought of it as being a extremely old society. He wasn't into the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The end of the Earth (or only humanity)

Maybe the most significant change between the new film and the original is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials react to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. Bugonia takes a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while keeping the Earth and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the script was a depiction of Earth post-human existence,” the writer says.

In the film's conclusion, we see a sequence of scenes of life across the globe. All humans are deceased where they were standing moments earlier, but the Earth keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is up for debate. Is the ending of Bugonia optimistic or pessimistic? Is humanity fated to perish or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

The screenwriter does not wish to offer a definitive answer in any direction.

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak conclusion, or a tragic finale, a despairing ending,” he states. “Other people see it as being a strangely hopeful or positive ending. In my opinion there are various interpretations to read it.”

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