Writer and Director Guy Trevellyan talks about short film ‘Plastic Surgery’, winner of ‘Best Thriller’ at this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival

With Body Horror’s re-emergence on the world’s stage, thanks recently to Coralie Fargeat’s award winning cautionary tale The Substance as a cinematic niche not to be reckoned with, the subject of human biology is increasingly becoming the focus of our 21st century lives. Social media a prism heightening what it is to supposedly achieve ‘perfection’, and the intentional omission of the horrors that lay beneath this. Team this with the alarm bell being rung about the state of our planet, and we’re presented with insidious issues of microplastics and climate very gradually intruding on our way of life. Post this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival which took place between 7th to 17th August, writer and director Guy Trevellyan had his short Body Horror film Plastic Surgery Screened at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre. A metaphorical piece examining the way plastic pollution is infiltrating our health, Guy tells us more about what inspired him to produce the film, establishing his production company Nice Guy Pictures and what he’s learned from creating the film.

Hi Guy, your short film Plastic Surgery will show at the TCL Chinese Theatre as part of this year’s HollyShorts Festival. How are you feeling ahead of the screening?

Plastic Surgery had it’s world premiere at Hollyshorts last weekend. I was naturally very nervous but so excited to visit LA for the first time and show Plastic Surgery to a public audience. I went with our producers Caroline (McCrystal) and Sophie (Stacey), so having our team out there was a real support. I was overwhelmed when we found out we were nominated for Best Thriller and then winning the award was the cherry on top, a very happy surprise. It was such an honour to be included in their festival program, alongside many other beautiful shorts.

Plastic Surgery is a metaphorical piece, an examination of the way plastic pollution is infiltrating our health. What inspired you to explore this topic further?

I was first inspired to write this environmental thriller when I worked with The Ocean Agency back in 2020. My mind was opened to the true horror and threats facing our ocean due to global warming. I started to research the effects of plastic pollution on marine life, but what stood out was the amount of news/reports/studies focusing on microplastics in our body. This terrified me, and I knew in that moment I wanted to create a fictional narrative which raised awareness about this issue in a visual, cinematic lens.

You founded your production company Nice Guy Pictures in 2024, with a mission to tell stories that illuminate truth, family and belonging often with urgent edge. Plastic Surgery marking your directorial debut with the company. How have you found producing the film? What are your hopes for the company?

Producing this film was a true joy, especially bringing together this incredible crew and cast. I truly believe the key to a great project is the people behind it, and pulling together this talented group of creatives was always my first goal in the pre-production process. Finding the right people to help your vision come to life. However, setting the story in a hospital doesn’t come without challenges, and it can easily look fake if you don’t have the right setting, equipment, background, production design and medical advice. With this in mind it was a high priority to make the world of Plastic Surgery feel as real as possible, which would in turn make the surreal nature of the plastic threat even more impactful.

The hope for Nice Guy Pictures is to continue creating impactful content which raises awareness about human and social issues, often rooted in an environmental lens and focus on the wider planet. We have various projects in development including an animated environmental thriller called Haven amongst others. We are really excited for the future and we hope Plastic Surgery continues to reach a global audience.

As an assistant director alongside various celebrated directors such as Wes Anderson, Greta Gerwig, Michael Sarnoski and Shawn Levy, you’ve developed your own style – a distinct visual precision and genre forward sensibility. As a graduate of the MetFilm School, what has your directorial journey from then until now looked like?

I guess my directorial journey started when I began working with Wes Anderson. I was able to shadow him and learnt various filmmaking techniques while being an assistant director on Asteroid City. He taught me the importance of prep, creating an animatic and storyboard. Having an idea of how to cut the scene in my head before shooting, knowing what story beats I needed to cover and how I can work with actors effectively to achieve this. I expanded my style by working and watching other directors like Greta, Shawn, Sam Esmail, all with extremely different approaches to filmmaking. I began producing various smaller projects around this work which allowed me to practise these techniques, constantly writing and noting down ideas to develop my own stories. Then finally, after I wrote Plastic Surgery, I realised it was time to take the leap myself. I took all my knowledge from being an assistant director and what i’d learnt from these directors into practice and tried to keep challenging myself at every turn.

The film is written, directed and produced by yourself. Co-produced by Sophie Stacey and Caroline McCrystal, cinematography by Helena Gonzalez, edited by Flaura Atkinson, production design by Set Sisters, sound design by Greg Claridge and stars Anna Poppelwell and Daniel Ings. How have you all worked together to realise the film?

In order to make a film, you need to collaborate with a wide range of creative departments, bringing everyone together under one cinematic lens. In order for this to happen, each department needs to speak to each-other and feed of one another. Allowing a good amount of prep in this project allowed us to really plan how the film was going to look and feel. Right from script development, production and into post with editing we wanted to create an impactful story which shocks the audience and evokes change. For example, when Anna came onboard I rewrote the script based off her pregnancy, collaborating with her in the development stage. Or when we would often have production meetings discussing the shot list with all departments and allowing everyone to voice their opinions and flag possible issues which could appear down the line. We started the film as a crew, but ending it as a family and I am so excited to work with all these incredibly talented filmmakers again.

What have you learned/taken away from creating the film?

I learned the power of patience, timing, preparation and trusting your team. Patience will allow you to step back and solve problems more effectively. Often what seems like the biggest issue on set, will end up giving you another chance to make something even greater. Time is critical, be aware of it but don’t let it control your creativity. Trust in the people around you to bring their own voice, always let people speak. Heed advice, don’t assume you are the only person with an idea. Preparation might be the most important part, prep prep prep and prep. This is when I learned the power of a storyboard and sharing this with the crew far in advance so everyone knew what we were trying to achieve. I think building the right team and having supportive people around you is so important and I will always aim to create a film family with every job.

What can viewers expect from the film?

Expect to be surprised and shocked. Learning the harsh reality of plastic pollution on our health can be a scary truth, especially as its hidden and already inside us. We hope audiences will be shocked into action and become more aware about this threat of plastic and its effect on our health.

Interview by Lucy Basaba.

Plastic Surgery was shown at the TCL Chinese Theatre as part of this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival. To find out more about the film, visit here…