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Cult classic remake 'Bugonia' set for 'special talk' event at Busan International Film Festival

Published: 02 Sep. 2025, 14:45 Updated: 02 Sep. 2025, 18:33

LIM JEONG-WON
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From left to right, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, and American actors Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons arrive for the premiere of ″Bugonia″ during the 82nd annual Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 28. [EPA/YONHAP]

Two decades after releasing the sleeper-hit cult film “Save the Green Planet!” (2003), director Jang Joon-hwan will return to its eccentric universe at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). This time, he will appear alongside Yorgos Lanthimos’s Hollywood remake “Bugonia,” and actor Lee Je-hoon.

Festival organizers said Tuesday that a special talk on "Bugonia" will take place Sept. 21 at Dongseo University Sohyang Theater Shinhan Card Hall, following a screening of the film.

Titled “Special Talk ‘Bugonia:’ A Cinematic Dialogue,” the session will bring together Jang, best known for writing and directing “Save the Green Planet!,” now considered a Korean cult gem, Lee and Ko Kyung-beom, head of global projects at CJ ENM.

Jang, who created the characters and world of the original film, was involved in the production of the Hollywood remake since the planning stage, and is expected to offer insights into both his debut feature and Lanthimos’s English-language remake.

Lee, who has previously named “Save the Green Planet!” as one of his favorite Korean films, will join the discussion. At a past screening event, Lee described the film’s impact as “a freshness and shock that still feels valid 20 years later,” raising anticipation for his exchange with Jang and the audience.

Director Jang Joon-hwan and actor Lee Je-hoon [BUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL]

“Save the Green Planet!,” released in 2003, is a genre-defying film that follows a young man convinced the world is on the brink of alien invasion. Believing that a powerful businessman is actually a disguised extraterrestrial plotting humanity’s downfall, he kidnaps and tortures him in a desperate attempt to protect the planet.

What begins as a darkly comic abduction spirals into a harrowing meditation on trauma, paranoia and the blurred line between delusion and truth. Mixing slapstick humor, thriller suspense and tragic melodrama, the film tells a story as bizarre as it is haunting.

Although “Save the Green Planet!” flopped at the domestic box office upon initial release, it has since stood the test of time as a cult classic that has made a name for Jang and been loved by cinephiles.

Main poster for the upcoming film ″Bugonia,″ a remake of the Korean cult classic ″Save the Green Planet!″ [CJ ENM]

“Bugonia” will have its Asian premiere on Sept. 19 at CGV Centum City, with additional screenings on Sept. 21 at Dongseo University and Sept. 24 at the Busan Cinema Center’s Sky Theater.

The film was planned and co-produced by CJ ENM, which also distributed the original film back in 2003. The company played a central role in developing the remake, overseeing the script, director, casting and production packaging, according to the BIFF organizers. Following its BIFF screenings, “Bugonia” will be released in Korea in November.

Lanthimos, a Greek director best known for the Oscar-nominated film “The Lobster” (2015), “The Favorite” (2018), “Poor Things” (2023) and “Kinds of Kindness” (2024), has once again collaborated with actor Emma Stone, who he directed in three past works, for this remake. Actors Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis and Alicia Silverstone are also part of the cast of “Bugonia.”