The Screenwriter Explains the Many Surprising Turns of Emma Stone's New Science Fiction Film

Bugonia writer the writer doesn’t really remember what happens in the original Korean movie. That’s a bit of a surprise, since he crafted the script for the director’s new reimagining of the original 2003 film. Rather than poring over the source material for inspiration, the screenwriter behind The Menu viewed the movie a single time, jotted down some thoughts, and began writing.

“I watched the original once,” the screenwriter explains. “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 paying tribute to someone else's vision. The most respectful approach to those movies was to have them exist independently.”

While the basic plot of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an alien in disguise is largely the identical in both films, the differences are considerable. For one thing, the writer re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in Jang Joon-hwan’s first version, as a woman. (Lanthimos cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the part.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their shared core mystery: Is this person an alien in disguise or not?

The screenwriter believes that answer is a bit not the main focus.

“I never was really focused on the twist aspect,” he says. “I didn't want the movie to just be a gadget that performs one surprise, and then after the reveal, it's like: OK, well, what else does this toy do?”

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

Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers follow for the conclusion of Bugonia.

So is Emma Stone an alien or not an alien?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Similar to in the original film, the end of this version discloses that the CEO, a pharmaceutical executive named Michelle Fuller, is in fact a royal extraterrestrial in disguise. After tricking her kidnapper the unstable man (the actor) into killing himself using her advanced device, Fuller beams back up to her alien vessel.

The reality that this is unexpected is a testament to Stone’s acting skills. Throughout the two-hour film, she maintains suspense through a complex performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

“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 watching the movie a second time. How those rewatching are going to think,” the writer says. "She was aware the upon a repeat viewing someone sees this film, They are aware I am conscious of… you know?”

He pauses, before continuing, “So she had to be aware of that in her performance.”

Creating the Andromedons and their vessel

After Stone’s character ultimately shows her true nature, we get a quick look of her ship and fellow aliens before the film concludes. Their ship has a unique design, which the writer shares was intended to look like a sea creature while steering clear of high-tech visuals.

“[The director] was really interested in almost like a jellyfish-inspired shape for the spaceship, something quite organic,” he says.

They should feel strangely somewhat primitive or primitive.

The Andromedons’ attire is just as interesting as their ship: rounded robes made from large, ropey threads. Again, the aim was to defy sci-fi movie tradition.

“For the costumes, rather than being futuristic, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of tribal or basic, and yet also highly decorative and not primitive, because it's such an intricate and elegant creation on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy states. He notes that the director “viewed it as being a very ancient civilization. He disliked the idea of any element being sleek and silver, or a hyper-futuristic look.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and the original is that in the original Korean movie, the extraterrestrials respond to their ruler's abduction and mistreatment by destroying planet Earth. This adaptation adopts a slightly subtler approach, with its aliens opting to eliminate all human life, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the script 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 globe. All humans lie dead where they were located just before, but the world continues. What we, as an audience, are meant to interpret these events is open to discussion. Is the ending of the film hopeful or bleak? Is humanity doomed or worth saving? Would the world be improved without us?

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

“Certain viewers find it to be a very bleak ending, or a sad finale, a despairing ending,” he states. “Different audiences view it as being a strangely hopeful or happy ending. I think there's different ways to read it.”

The film is in select cinemas at present, with a wide release on Halloween.