The Screenwriter Explains the Countless Wild Turns of Emma Stone's New Sci-Fi Movie

The film writer the writer has a hazy memory of what transpires in Save the Green Planet!. This is somewhat unexpected, considering he crafted the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest adaptation of the original 2003 film. Rather than studying the source material for ideas, the writer behind The Menu viewed the film once, took a few notes, and began writing.

“I’ve only seen the original the one time,” Tracy explains. “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 another filmmaker's work. The fairest thing to those movies was to have them each stand on their own.”

While the premise of a emotionally troubled man (the actor in Bugonia) who abducts a pharmaceutical executive he’s certain is an extraterrestrial hiding on Earth is pretty much the same in each movie, the variations are significant. Firstly, Tracy re-envisioned the executive character, originally male in the director's first version, as a female character. (The director cast his frequent collaborator Emma Stone in the role.) The endings differ slightly as well, in the way they address their central question: Is the character an extraterrestrial or not?

Tracy believes that answer is a bit beside the point.

“I wasn't 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?”

However, he has a lot to say on the topic. Our discussion with the screenwriter touched on Bugonia’s ending and what it all means, along with the methods he and Lanthimos worked together to bring those twists to life.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the ending of Bugonia.

So is the character an alien or not?

In brief: Absolutely.

Similar to in the original film, the conclusion of this version discloses that Stone’s character, a big pharma CEO named her character, is actually alien royalty in hiding. Once she manipulates her captor Teddy (Plemons) into ending his own life using her teleportation technology, she transports to her alien vessel.

The fact that this comes as a surprise is a proof to Stone’s acting skills. During the two-hour film, she keeps audiences guessing through a layered performance that may take several rewatches to comprehend entirely.

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

Tracy pauses, before adding, “So she had to be aware of that in her acting.”

Designing the aliens and their vessel

Once the CEO finally does reveal her real identity, we get a brief glimpse of her spaceship and other extraterrestrials before the film ends. Their vessel has a unique design, which the writer reveals was intended to look like a sea creature while avoiding futuristic aesthetics.

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

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

The aliens' clothing is equally fascinating as their ship: rounded dress-like garments made from thick, woven cords. Once more, the aim was to go against sci-fi movie tradition.

“Regarding the attire, rather than being advanced, they [were meant to|aimed to] feel unusually kind of primitive or basic, and yet also highly decorative and sophisticated, because it's such an intricate and beautiful design on those unusual woven outfits,” Tracy says. He notes that Lanthimos “viewed it as being a extremely old society. He disliked the idea of anything being sleek and silver, or some ultra-modern cosmic vision.”

The conclusion of the world (or only humankind)

Maybe the biggest difference between Bugonia and the original is that in the first version, the extraterrestrials respond to their leader's kidnapping and abuse by destroying the world. Bugonia adopts a somewhat more nuanced approach, with its aliens opting to snuff out all mankind, while leaving the planet and its other inhabitants intact.

“My intention to do in the script was a vision of the planet post-human existence,” the writer explains.

In the movie’s final moments, we see a series of shots of life across the planet. Every person lie dead where they were standing moments earlier, but the world keeps spinning. How viewers, are meant to interpret all this is open to discussion. Does the conclusion of Bugonia optimistic or bleak? Is humanity fated to perish or deserving of rescue? Would the world be improved without us?

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

“Some people see it as a very bleak ending, or a tragic finale, a hopeless ending,” he states. “Different audiences see it as being a strangely optimistic or positive 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.