(L to R) Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone on the set of ‘Poor Things.’ Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Preview:
- Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons will star in ‘Bugonia’.
- It’s Yorgos Lanthimos’ next movie.
- ‘Bugonia’ adapts 2003 Korean film ‘Save the Green Planet’.
Given that she just won an Oscar working with director Yorgos Lanthimos on ‘Poor Things’ (their second collaboration after ‘The Favourite’), it’s hardly surprising that Emma Stone is looking to reunite with the director, who has become a trusted filmmaking partner.
And the pair is bringing along Jesse Plemons, who stars alongside Stone in the director’s next release, the upcoming ‘Kinds of Kindness’, which just debuted to praise in Cannes and will be in theaters on June 21st.
Lanthimos’ next project (which he’ll get working on soon, since both ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Kinds of Kindness’ were squeezed in in quick succession after success with ‘The Favourite’) is an adaptation of a 2003 South Korean fantasy sci-fi comedy called ‘Save the Green Planet’, focused on alien conspiracy theories and kidnapping.
While we’re surprised to see Lanthimos pivot from his own work (though both ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’ were adaptations, one of a previously-written script; the other from a novel), the quirkiness of this one does sound like something he’d tackle.
What’s the story of ‘Bugonia’?
(L to R) Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone on the set of ‘Poor Things.’ Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Assuming it follows the rough story of the original, here’s what we know so far…
Director Joon-Hwan Jang‘s 2003 debut follows Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun), who comes to believe that a number of Korean leaders and top business types are secretly reptilian aliens driving an invasion of his beloved planet Earth.
When he abducts several and absconds with them to a basement command centre to start prying information from their scaly brains, the authorities hire a skilled private detective to track him and his victims down. All the while, Byeong-gu’s devoted girlfriend aids his mission, even as she worries his crusade is born out of his traumatic childhood.
‘Succession’ and ‘The Menu’ veteran Will Tracy (who also created ‘The Regime’ for HBO) wrote the adaptation, which Variety mentions as following two young men who kidnap a female CEO, convinced she is an alien leading an attack. So perhaps the perspective of the female lead has switched this time –– we can certainly see Stone wanting to play a meatier role than the girlfriend of one of the kidnappers.
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Who is making ‘Bugonia’?
(L to R) Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone on the set of ‘Poor Things.’ Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Besides Lanthimos, the team backing the movie includes director Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen, who developed the project for their Square Peg production company. They’ll produce the movie with Lanthimos veterans Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, alongside Lanthimos, Stone and Miky Lee and Jerry Kyoungboum Ko.
Unlike Lanthimos last couple of movies, which were released (or in the case of ‘Kinds of Kindness’ will be released) by Searchlight Pictures, Focus Features has snapped up the rights to send this one to theaters, with Universal taking most international markets.
When will ‘Bugonia’ be in theaters?
Focus Features has yet to specify a release date for the remake.
(L to R) Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone on the set of ‘Poor Things.’ Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
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