In this interview, director Guy Trevellyan discusses his thrilling short film PLASTIC SURGERY which recently screened at the 2025 HollyShorts Film Festival.

What was the original spark that led to PLASTIC SURGERY? Was there a specific news item or study that triggered the story?

The original idea for PLASTIC SURGERY came from working alongside The Ocean Agency, where I was able to see first hand the true horrors our ocean and marine life are facing. I began researching the effects of plastic pollution and discovered a study by Kieran Cox which looked at human consumption of plastic and its effects. This terrified me and I knew from that moment I wanted to create a visual, character driven story which brought this truth to light. 

After I had watched Denis Villeneuve’s short film THE NEXT FLOOR, I began to write PLASTIC SURGERY as a visual metaphor for Mother Nature and her struggle to protect and save our species from its own toxic creation.

You wrote the film during the COVID pandemic – how did that time influence your thinking about contamination, the body, and crisis?

When I wrote this during Covid we were under lockdown and all filming was paused or cancelled. A lot of the discussions we had around that time were about our health and future, so this definitely had an influence on my writing. Before the pandemic, talks and summits surrounding global warming was at the forefront of the news. However, once Covid entered the picture, discussions shifted from the planet to our health and survival. Suddenly people were making rapid changes to our everyday life because they were afraid of a disease. This was a moment of realisation. If I could show plastic as a visual disease, how would people react to this? Would they be shocked? Would they make a change, no matter how small, and maybe this hidden threat of plastic within us will finally be recognised.

Dr. Terra reads as a metaphor for nature or rather “Mother Nature” – nurturing, endangered, and in transformation. How conscious was that symbolism in your writing?

Symbolism plays a huge role in PLASTIC SURGERY. I had always wanted Dr Terra to portray the character traits of Mother Nature, her ability to save and protect, but also her fragility and vulnerability. 

However, the story was re-written when Anna came onboard as Dr Terra. On our first call together she revealed that she was in fact 6 months pregnant, and she asked me if this was a problem for the story. I had the complete opposite reaction and knew at that moment she was made for the role. Who better to play Mother Nature than a young pregnant woman, about to create life but thrown into this chaotic and diseased world of our own making.

There’s a quiet horror in the idea that the threat is already inside us. Why did you want to explore complicity as much as danger?

It is all the more terrifying when a threat or disease is invisible. It leaves room to the imagination and makes it very hard to understand the full effects. When you add complicity to the mix it becomes a lot more personal, you begin to ask yourself questions like; have I done enough? Could I have done that differently? Have I added to the problem? The truth is we are all guilty in some way. However, there is a level of dual responsibility on individuals to choose plastic alternatives but there is also a duty of companies, governments to take action because not everyone has the luxury of choice on this planet. This mainly applies to clean water for example, where a huge population of the world has to use bottled because proper clean water isn’t available. Complicity can be a catalyst for change, where we take responsibility.

Did your own habits or relationship with plastic change while making the film, perhaps specifically a charged awareness of microplastics in our everyday life?

Absolutely, my whole approach to plastic has changed. I don’t buy or drink from plastic water bottles. I always carry my own water bottle, coffee cup and travel items which are plastic free. Bamboo or electric toothbrushes and choosing to buy groceries from local stores to avoid extra plastic packaging for example. Simple everyday things which over time will have a significant impact. This isn’t to say I have been able to avoid it entirely as plastic is so integrated into our everyday life, but it has made me more aware to its existence and threat.

What led you to cast Anna Popplewell as Dr. Terra, and how did you collaborate with her on the character’s arc?

I had watched Anna in a play and had always wanted to work with her. She has an incredible ability to switch into character and really wants to explore the reasons why and the world in which a character lives. She has a beautiful rawness to her emotion. When her team of surgeons enter the hospital ward into chaos was the moment I realised Anna was perfect for the role. I purposely kept her away from the prosthetics and film set so we could shoot the first take as her true experience of seeing the space on camera for the first time. This ended up being used in the edit because her reaction and emotion was so real, she felt completely overwhelmed and portrayed exactly how I believe mother nature feels today.

Right from the start and our first call together I knew Anna and I would make a great team. She was so open and excited about the project. I rewrote the script around her, incorporating her pregnancy and we often rehearsed in pre-production to fully understand Dr Terra’s meaning and story. We visited the set location so I could get Anna into the hospital space and walk through the script. I needed Anna to feel confident in her environment as our main Surgeon, she needed to know the equipment and interact with the world so it could feel real and true. We also had a medical advisor on set who helped teach Anna and I how we can use certain apparatus. 

The sound design is unsettling and immersive – how did you approach using sound as a storytelling device?

Sound design was so crucial to the pace setting and tension of Plastic Surgery. We started looking at everyday sounds you would hear in a hospital to really immerse us into the space. Noise from the equipment, ventilators, heart monitors, intercoms, codes and people, life. Everything adds and builds in volume and intensity throughout the story. We also looked at adding sound effects to enhance our sense of impending threat, layered underneath the workings of hospital life. For example, in Dr Terra’s office we hear the subtle sound of an ambulance siren coming closer and closer to the hospital and pulling up outside before our Intercom calls her into the next surgery. There is always danger lurking outside the window. Our red phone and intercom chime are used repeatedly to heighten our sense of alarm and move Dr Terra from room to room.

When we move into the main hospital ward towards the end of the film we pan off our team of surgeons and move handheld around the room witnessing the horrors unfold around us. It was so important in this moment to pull back the sound design and focus on Dr Terra’s breathing, to help feel her raw emotion and follow her perspective.

How did your background as an Assistant Director for filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Greta Gerwig shape your own visual or narrative instincts?

Being able to work alongside these titans in the film industry was an incredible window into all forms of filmmaking. As an assistant director you learn how a film is practically made from script to production. You also learn how to problem solve and think on your feet as undoubtably things will go wrong and you have to be prepped, working to a schedule. Visually I learnt how certain shots can evoke different emotions, and to always focus on one shot at a time. Whether it was Greta watching an actors raw performance underneath the camera without a monitor or Wes’ approach to animatics and storyboards in preproduction. All directors and writers have a unique difference and approach to filmmaking which defines their style.

What kind of conversations or action do you hope PLASTIC SURGERY prompts in viewers?

We hope plastic Surgery will shock people into action and make people more aware of this hidden threat. We aim to spread the harsh reality that plastic is already inside us to a global audience.

The film feels like it could be expanded into a feature – have you thought about continuing or enlarging this world?

I feel like PLASTIC SURGERY can definitely be expanded into a feature. We have only really touched the surface of our understanding and I feel the more time passes the more we will begin to realise the effects microplastics are going to have on our public health. I love the character of Dr Terra and there is clearly a world in which we could expand her story as well. Time will tell but I can’t say we haven’t thought about expanding the story.