Bugonia : A Screenplay

by Michael Powers

113 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2026

About the author

Raised in a small Midwestern farming community, Michael left home at twenty to explore the world. After spending most of the ’70s in the United States Air Force, he earned an MBA and went to work in corporate finance. Twenty years later, his interest in the way people live, love, and work led him to change careers. Today Michael travels extensively as a performance coach for small businesses. He’s lived in eight states and traveled to forty countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. His interests include medical technology, international affairs, and global finance. Michael believes the true measure of a person or group can be determined by observing how they act in a crisis.

Reviews

[Ross Bonaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Bugonia, writer Will Tracy takes the wild South Korean sci-fi comedy, Save the Green Planet! and tightens up the concept, making it more darkly funny, deeply unsettling, and uncomfortably timely. Jang Joon-hwan’s original film leaned more into the strange humor of this idea, but Tracy (who previously wrote The Menu) knows how to keep the comedy intact, while leaning into the terror and constant building of tension this story needs until it hits its bonkers conclusion.

But Tracy also beautifully makes this story into a Yorgos Lanthimos film — a considerable feat, considering how idiosyncratic Lanthimos’ style is. This is only Lanthimos’ second adaptation, but it’s a story that feels like it could’ve been made for him to direct. When watching Save the Green Planet!, it’s easy to wonder what that concept would be like with a stronger focus and more focused script, and that’s exactly what Tracy and Lanthimos do with this adaptation. With The Menu, Tracy told a fairly basic “eat the rich” story, but with Bugonia, he’s really showing his talents as a writer who can truly elevate a wild concept.