Yesterday, we brought you some early reactions from a recent test screening of DC Studios' Clayface, and we now have a few more details, including the identity of Aaron Paul's (Breaking Bad, Westworld) mysterious character.
No, we don't have our new Batman.
There will be some spoilers from this point on.
As we reported yesterday, Batman is never shown or even referenced in the movie, and there are no other DCU cameos. It's also said that there are no "full body transformations," as Matt Hagen shifts his limbs when in a rage for "out-of-control attacks."
According to MTTSH, the movie will not include any post-credits scenes, either, and "feels very standalone. [It's] funnier than expected. Very R-rated, very gory, has nudity too."
The scooper also reveals that Aaron Paul will play Matt Hagen's father in a "meaningless" cameo.
There's a more detailed synopsis doing the rounds, but we're not too sure if it's legit.
"Once the world's most beloved actor, Matt Hagen's glamorous life is shattered when a forbidden affair with a Gotham City mob boss's wife leads to his brutal disfigurement. Desperate to reclaim his shattered identity and his prized looks, Matt turns to a mysterious female doctor who administers an experimental, underground drug. However, the miracle cure comes with a horrifying price: triggered by deep sorrow, trauma, and fits of rage, Matt's face begins to melt, slowly transforming him into a monstrous entity.
Now a fugitive hunted by the government after taking violent revenge on the mobsters who ruined his life, Matt's grip on sanity slips. He forms a twisted, obsessive bond with the doctor who treated him, eliminating anyone who stands in their way—including her husband. As she realizes the horrifying consequences of her experiment and attempts to stop him once and for all, Matt survives, setting the stage for a dark, tragic psychological thriller about vanity, heartbreak, and a deadly obsession."
The recent trailer showed a bloody, bandaged Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) in his hospital bed as we see horrifying flashes of the attack that left him disfigured.
We then catch glimpses of the transformation he'll undergo (there's even a shadowy shot of Hagen changing his arm into a spiked mace), and the teaser concludes with the actor lying in a bathtub, wiping his own face away with his hand.
"Mike Flanagan is somebody who I've been friendly with for a long time, and he wrote me about Clayface," James Gunn told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. "He texted me about it really early on in my DC journey. Just being honest, I did not think that was something that was going to happen, but he came in, and he pitched the idea, and I was like, 'Oh s---! That's cool.' It's a body-horror movie. It's a horror movie that, like any cool body-horror movie, just happens to be in the DCU. And then he wrote the script, and the script was fantastic. We did not plan to do Clayface. That was really something he brought to us."
DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the Gotham City villain. Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition.
The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James. James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, story by Flanagan, based on characters from DC.
Clayface is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Rafi Crohn, Paul Ritchie, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars P. Winther executive producing.