Michelle Yeoh Plays Surgeon in TIFF Body-Horror Thriller — SkimNews
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- Michelle Yeoh stars as Eliza, a world-renowned surgeon retiring after 40 years who is abducted at gunpoint and forced to operate on crime boss Sean (Martin Freeman) in 'The Surgeon,' which world premiered at TIFF.
- Dr. Roshan Sethi writes and directs the 92-minute body-horror thriller, his follow-up to 'A Nice Indian Boy,' featuring Thin Lizzy as Eliza's preferred operating soundtrack.
- The film pairs Yeoh's martial arts background with anatomical combat — prosthetics supervisor Suzi Battersby earns praise for graphic detail the review likens to 'John Wick meets Fantastic Voyage.'
- Yuri Kolokolnikov plays imposing Russian henchman Cole, who watches Eliza's every cut and discovers her scalpel is deadlier than his gun.
- Yeoh's last starring role was 'Everything Everywhere All At Once,' which won her Best Actress three years ago; she has since taken supporting turns in blockbusters like 'Wicked.'
- Producers Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, and Tim Headington back the project, with WME and 193 handling international sales out of TIFF.
Why it matters: This marks Michelle Yeoh's first lead action role since winning Best Actress for 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' three years ago, and the 92-minute body-horror concept leans entirely on her martial-arts credibility rather than franchise machinery. For TIFF buyers WME and 193, the film's distinctive premise plus Yeoh's name recognition form a compact genre-sales package built around her star turn.
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