The ranch house wasn’t just a setting—it was a living, breathing character with a backstory, and its basement held a secret that would make any conspiracy theorist proud.
Imagine a house that feels so real, so lived-in, and so grimy that you can almost smell the stale air. Now, imagine a sleek, modern office that subtly whispers “spaceship” to anyone paying close attention.
For production designer James Price, creating these contrasting worlds for Yorgos Lanthimos’s psychological thriller Bugonia was about more than just sets; it was about hiding the film’s biggest secrets in plain sight .
If you’ve seen the film, you know that the question of whether Emma Stone’s character, Michelle, is an alien is central to the plot. As it turns out, the answer was never in the dialogue alone. It was baked into the very walls of the world Price built .
The Ranch House: A Character in Itself
For the home where Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) hold Michelle captive, Price and his team built the structure from the ground up. The goal was to create a completely immersive world that felt less like a set and more like a real, neglected place .
Price gave the house a detailed backstory: a family home that had seen better days and had fallen into bad repair. The last time it was updated was likely the late 1990s, trapping it in a specific time warp that reflects the lives of its inhabitants .
Key Features of the House:
- Lived-in Decay: The design reflects a home where a mother figure has been absent and the occupants are struggling to cope .
- Collaborative Process: Price worked closely with cinematographer Robbie Ryan to wire the house for natural lighting, making it feel authentic .
- A Personal Vision: The look was partly inspired by a real farmer’s house in New Zealand that had been left in a state of disarray .
The Creepy Basement and the Secret Room
The basement, where much of the film’s tense interrogation takes place, was originally planned for a sound stage. However, the team found they could excavate the clay ground on location to build the basement directly underneath the house, adding to its authenticity .
Within the basement lies the film’s biggest shock: a secret room that serves as Teddy’s inner sanctum. While the script called for a wardrobe hiding the door, Price thought that was “a shit idea” . His solution was to hide the entrance behind the stairs, with a chalk-faced wall carving marking the spot .
This secret room is the physical manifestation of Teddy’s conspiracy theories, filled with his research—dismembered body parts, heads in jars, and walls covered in photos of suspected aliens . Cinematographer Robbie Ryan noted that the production design was so effective in this space that it “photographs well from every angle,” making the claustrophobic terror palpable .
Hiding Clues in Michelle’s World
The central enigma of Bugonia is the true nature of Michelle Fuller. Is she a malicious alien or not? Price’s design makes the answer obvious, but only if you know where to look.
He deliberately crafted Michelle’s corporate office and ultra-modern home to resemble a spaceship, drawing inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey .
“She lives in a spaceship, her office is a spaceship, in a kind of modernist sense of spaceship,” Price admitted. The dark carpet leading to her glass-box office was a deliberate clue. Yet, because her character is so convincing in her denials, audiences are led to doubt what the design is screaming at them .
This technique mirrors how Price once designed a villain’s lair in “The Ipcress File”; everything about the set tells you the character is the “baddie,” but their dialogue makes you believe otherwise .
The Spaceship Revealed: An Organic Temple
In the film’s climax, it is revealed that Teddy was right all along. Michelle is an Andromeda, an ancient being overseeing humanity. Price then faced the challenge of designing her actual spaceship .
Rejecting a traditional sci-fi look, he envisioned something more organic for Lanthimos’s unique world. The concept was a sacred temple, like a Stonehenge, with a sacred, womb-shaped pool of water at its center—a theme of birth and rebirth .
The structures surrounding the pool were based on human anatomy, with throne room seats that resembled worn-down teeth and buildings inspired by organs like the liver and kidneys . The final, 50-foot-high set was a striking blend of the biological and the technological, powered by a concept akin to a Dyson sphere that harnesses the sun’s energy .
Comparing Two Worlds in ‘Bugonia’
The following table highlights the intentional contrasts in the production design:
| Design Element | Teddy & Don’s World | Michelle’s World |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Vibe | Time-trapped, rancid, messy | Austere, powerful, confident |
| Key Location | Rambling, neglected ranch house | Sleek, minimalist office and home |
| Inspiration | Real, grimy lived-in houses | 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| Hidden Clue | Secret room confirms conspiracy | Spaceship-like design reveals alien nature |
| Cinematography | Natural, sometimes harsh lighting | Clean, sharp lines |
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is ‘Bugonia’ a remake of another film?
Yes, Bugonia is a loose remake of the 2003 South Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet! .
2. What does the title ‘Bugonia’ mean?
The title comes from an ancient Greek word for a mythical science of transforming dead cows into beehives, symbolically turning death into life . This echoes the film’s themes of transformation and hidden truths.
3. Was the ranch house a real location?
No. To achieve complete creative control, production designer James Price built the ranch house and its basement from the ground up on a location in the UK .
4. How did the cinematography contribute to the film’s look?
Cinematographer Robbie Ryan shot the entire film using the high-resolution VistaVision format. This widescreen approach captured both the claustrophobic terror of the basement and the stark contrast between the two main worlds .
5. What was the biggest design challenge?
Balancing the need to hide obvious clues about Michelle’s alien identity while also making them visible enough for the audience to retrospectively understand. The design had to support the story’s ambiguity without feeling dishonest .
The Takeaway
The next time you watch a film, pay close attention to the environments. The sets are never just a backdrop. As James Price demonstrated in Bugonia, production design is a narrative force in its own right. It’s a visual language that can tell a secret story, one that unfolds right before our eyes, if we only know how to look.
What’s the most clever piece of production design you’ve ever noticed in a movie? Share your thoughts and let’s talk about the hidden stories in the scenes around us.
