Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Bugonia,’ tells the story of two conspiracy-driven people, Teddy and Don, who hatch an elaborate plan to abduct Michelle Fuller, a biomedical CEO. The two believe that she is an alien in disguise and has been sent to Earth with the specific intent of wiping out humanity. Thus, a curious game of chess ensues, with both sides trying their best to one-up each other. Although Michelle desperately tries to make her case every chance she gets, Teddy hardly budges from his stance, and the situation continues to grow grimmer. In the midst of this battle over truths and narratives, Don struggles with the ethical dilemmas in front of him, and as a result, his conviction is put to the test. As such, this psychological dark comedy movie, which adapts a Korean film, titled ‘Save the Green Planet!,’ is as concerned with Michelle’s plight as it is with Don’s inner turmoil.
Don is a Person With Autism Who Contrasts Teddy’s Arc in Bugonia
In ‘Bugonia,’ Don is introduced as Teddy’s cousin and a person with autism. While he is not fully on board with the conspiracy theories about Michelle being an alien, he is still swept up in Teddy’s frenzied schemes and ends up becoming a co-conspirator in the abduction plot. Following this, the rest of the movie follows Don giving up on his moral and ethical values bit by bit, as each attempt at getting Michelle to confess only weakens his belief in her being extraterrestrial. While conversing with Michelle, Teddy describes his cousin as someone who doesn’t like to talk to people. However, from there, Teddy’s tone becomes increasingly negative, with him at one point claiming that Don has a sad mind. This suggests that Teddy has a prejudiced perspective on Don and employs that to control him and his actions throughout the story.
While Teddy dives headfirst into a downward spiral that is born from a mix of a traumatic past and a warped perspective on reality, Don takes a bit of convincing to take part in the conspiracy-oriented schemes. In the first scene of the film, Teddy tells Don about the unique qualities of bees, with worker bees in particular following a set path in their brief lives, before dying. The scene works on two symbolic levels, both showing how Teddy plans to exploit his cousin and make him partake in the horrifying actions, as well as foreshadowing how a potentially dark future awaits Don. In tracking Teddy’s transformative journey, director Yorgos Lanthimos and the creative team of the movie brought forth a sensitive and nuanced take on how autism is portrayed on screen.
Aidan Delbis as Don Brings Forth an Authentic Portrayal of Autism
Don is portrayed by actor Aidan Delbis, who is also a person with autism. The budding actor chooses to describe himself as autistic instead of neurodivergent, and ‘Bugonia’ marks his first appearance on the silver screen. In an interview with the LA Times, director Yorgos Lanthimos explained that he wanted a fresh talent to join actors Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons in the cast. He stated, “I wanted to bring in a different dynamic. As we looked at people, I felt that the character would be more interesting if he were neurodivergent.” The crew’s creative interest opened the doors to a number of thematic and psychological angles that the film explored in depth, with Delbis pouring his heart into the character of Don. Despite this being his debut performance, Delbis is no stranger to acting, having honed his craft in drama classes for years. In his junior year, he began to fit into the world of acting, finding the process of donning a different persona to be equal parts fun and scary.
To bring the most out of Delbis’ performance, the casting director of ‘Bugonia,’ Jennifer Venditti, sought out Elaine Hall, who went on to become Delbis’ creative coach. As the founder of the Miracle Project, Hall specializes in providing acting directions to neurodivergent people, and she was helped by Delbis. She devised a number of exercises and techniques to refine his expressive prowess. Delbis proved to be a fast learner, mastering these exercises in a weekend and taking over the stage as Don in no time. In the LA Times interview, he explained that he doesn’t have an opinion on whether autism should be portrayed on-screen by autistic actors. However, he did speak about the importance of widening one’s perspective, stating, “We should try to be more empathetic to people with different worldviews because you never really know what those people are going through.”
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