Bodies, for Lanthimos, are ill-fitting shells. Uncomfortable carapaces. We wear them, often awkwardly, because we have to, but we're typically struggling with the urge to take them off, trade them out, or-having failed to control our own-control those of others. Bodies betray us, fall apart, stop working, or inadequately represent our true selves. Maybe, if we're determined enough, we can inhabit a different body by taking someone else's.
In "Bugonia," Stone plays fictional pharmaceutical company CEO Michelle Fuller, who is kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed beekeepers (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who are convinced she's an alien. The colorful concept comes from the film's source material - it's loosely a remake of "Save the Green Planet!," a 2003 South Korean dark comedy directed by Jang Joon-hwan - but in the development process, screenwriter Will Tracy ("Succession," "The Menu") ended up making a few big changes.
At the end of Save the Green Planet! the twisted 2003 Korean sci-fi black comedy directed by Jang Joon-hwan, the CEO kidnapped by a conspiracy theorist who believes him to be an alien in disguise is revealed to be... an alien in disguise. Escaping from his captor, the CEO returns to his alien spaceship and orders the destruction of Earth, having become disgusted with the "failed experiment" that is humanity.
Greek weird-wave titan Yorgos Lanthimos has opted for a slight change of tack with Bugonia. After two ambitious projects - the Oscar-winning Poor Things and the more coolly received feel-bad anthology Kinds of Kindness - the director offers a lean and mean thriller with more focus and momentum than any of his work since The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
I don't know about looking down on us, but one of my favourite people who has ever lived is Carl Sagan and I fell madly in love with his philosophy and science and how brilliant he is, the Oscar winner said. He very deeply believed [that] the idea that we're alone in this vast expansive universe not that we're being watched is a pretty narcissistic thing. So, yes, I'm coming out and saying it: I believe in aliens.
