'Bugonia': Everything we know about Yorgos Lanthimos' new film

WORDS Kirsty Thatcher PHOTOGRAPHY IMDb PUBLISHED Fri, 18 Oct 2024 - 4:30 pm

The Yorgos Lanthimos universe is growing, with the Greek filmmaker set to release another film in 2025. Titled Bugonia, the project has been billed as a remake of the 2003 South Korean comedy, Save The Green Planet. It follows two conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced she’s an alien intent on destroying the planet. And if that wasn’t intriguing enough, the script is being adapted by Will Tracy, who worked on major hits Succession and The Menu, so we have pretty high hopes. Interest piqued? Ours too. Below, all the important details about Bugonia.

**Who is cast in Bugonia?**

Unsurprisingly, Lanthimos has once again enlisted the talents of actors Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, who starred in the filmmakers recent hit Kinds of Kindness and, additionally for Stone, the Oscar-winning Poor Things and The Favourite. There’s also new talent signed on to the project, including none other than Alicia Silverstone. The iconic actress is best known for her star-making turn as Cher in Clueless, but has previously collaborated with Lanthimos back in 2017, in the psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Behind the scenes, Bugonia has been developed by Parasite producer CJ ENM, in partnership with Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen at Square Peg.

**What do we know about the original Save The Green Planet movie?**

As for Bugonia’s source text, the original Save The Green Planet was directed Jang Joon-hwan and released in 2003. While it didn’t earn critical acclaim globally, the film has retained cult status in South Korea.

“Back in 2003, the world was just beginning to get to know Korean cinema,” explained Korean production house CJ ENM’s Jerry Ko, one of the film’s producers.

“Audiences began to form an idea of what a Korean film might look like. And this film was not like that at all… ‘Save the Green Planet’ was a bit unique and fell between commercial and art house registers. Nowadays, I think this kind of film can connect with global audiences. And so, we decided to give it another try in the late 2010s, when ‘Parasite’ and ‘Squid Game’ were becoming successful.”