For her role as a kidnapped surgeon forced to perform one last operation in the action thriller “The Surgeon,” Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh took her training to the next level by learning how to actually perform surgery.
She was in good hands though. Literally. The director of the movie, Roshan Sethi, is a practicing radiation oncologist, and also the creator of Fox medical series “The Resident.”
Sethi turned to his colleague Dr. O’Keefe, a surgeon at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, where the movie was shot, to train and prepare Yeoh. Dr. O’Keefe is also a teacher who runs the Royal College of Surgeons simulator lab.
“She ran Michelle through everything, like how to scrub in, how to operate, how to do the knots, everything,” Sethi told Jada Yuan at TheWrap’s studio at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
Yeoh took her training quite seriously because she wanted the surgical movements to come off as authentic as possible on the big screen.
“It was really important for me, so that when I did the movements and all that, it looked real,” Yeoh said.
As part of her training, Yeoh also observed a pig dissection at the Royal College, much to the surprise of the medical students who also watched the pig dissection with the Oscar winner.
“None of the medical students who were doing the pig dissection had been warned that she was coming,” Sethi added. “They were so confused as to why Michelle was at the pig dissection for the day.”
Sethi’s brother, a doctor himself, chipped in as well to help Yeoh with her training.
“My brother sent some very funny short films where I had asked him to cut toast like a surgeon, just so everything felt like a surgeon,” Sethi said. “He put his Harvard diploma in the video because he didn’t want Michelle to miss it.”
“The Surgeon” premieres Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival.
