DC Studios' next big-screen release, the horror-tinged Clayface, arrives in theaters just in time for Halloween, and we have some intriguing new details along with a series of promo stills courtesy of EW.
Star Tom Rhys Harries, who plays Gotham's "next big thing" actor Matt Hagen, reveals exactly what leads to his character getting his face sliced up by a mob boss, and how he ultimately becomes the shape-shifting Batman villain.
"Harries describes how Matt clawed himself out of a violent, impoverished upbringing in the narrows of the city to build an enviable life as an adult. Then, right on the cusp of true stardom, he sleeps with the girlfriend of a local mob boss, who later carves up his face in wrathful retribution.
Now mutilated and desperate to reclaim his life, Matt comes into contact with a scientist, Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Ackie), and her miracle serum. Though it seems to provide the instant gratification of a non-plastic surgery fix, the bubbling substance, upon injection, begins Matt’s fated transformation into the monstrous entity comic lovers know as Clayface."
Speaking of Gotham's Dark Knight, recent test-screening reports appeared to confirm that the iconic vigilante will not be making an appearance, but director James Watkins didn't flat-out deny anything when asked if a cameo was on the table.
“The story is Clayface’s story, it’s Matt Hagen’s story. If you just took one person within the world of Gotham and followed their story, it’s about following the integrity of that. You don’t necessarily bump into any of these people…It’s just one big city. I can see why people worry about these things, but that’s not my job. My job is to worry about, Is this story honest to itself? and not try to think of ways to be cute, I suppose.”
Clayface takes place in the DCU, which is - for now, at any rate - a separate universe from Matt Reeves' The Batman movies. Even so, Ackie joked that they were thinking about getting her Mickey 17 co-star to drop by for a cameo.
“We were joking that we could go and get Rob to do a little cameo for us, but he was busy being Batman, saving another Gotham.”
Pattinson was actually filming The Batman - Part II in Liverpool while cameras were rolling on Clayface. “It’s like, through a window, you see Rob in his full gear,” Ackie adds. “That’s what we were thinking.”
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.