‘Clayface’ star Tom Rhys Harries on bringing DC horror villain to life

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Comic-book movies have never been shy about embracing villains. But DC fans have never seen commitment to gore quite like what’s on display in Clayface, DC Studios’ new film set in the Batman universe.

A big-screen movie centring on the lesser-known, shape-shifting supervillain takes the genre in a new direction by blending superhero films with R-rated horror.

Producer James Gunn, who runs DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, has made Clayface part of their first batch of DCU films and shows, which has so far included Superman, Supergirl, Lanterns, Peacemaker and Creature Commandos.

Matt Reeves, who directs Robert Pattinson’s Batman movies (which are separate from Gunn’s DCU plans), is on board as a producer as well.

In the new film, which is now playing in theatres, Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a young actor who is disfigured by a mob boss in Batman’s Gotham City.

Hagen, once a rising star, turns to Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who offers him the chance to regain his old life using an experimental clay-like drug that restores his former appearance.

As Hagen’s career begins to rebound, his treatment goes awry, causing him to descend into madness as he embarks on a murderous path of revenge.

In one squeamish scene, Hagen’s face starts to sag and melt, forcing him to pull out a pair of scissors to snip away the sticky mess from his eyelids.

Before the Toronto premiere of the film, Harries says that storyline gave screenwriter Mike Flanagan, who has adapted a number of Stephen King works for film and television, “open space” to explore the “psychological unravelling of someone.”

As Hagen reacts to Dr. Corr’s drugs, his face and body increasingly undergo a series of chilling body horror transformations.

“How the shape-shifting happens is varied throughout the film,” Harries tells Postmedia. “But we had some fun with how we get into those transitions.”

Director James Watkins, who is best known for helming films like Speak No Evil and The Woman in Black, calls Hagen’s downfall “a tragedy in three acts.”

“It follows the journey of a character who goes from being a nice guy and shows how a man becomes a monster,” Watkins says.

Stepping into the Bat-verse

After a number of Batman films that have centred on the crime-fighting Caped Crusader, Watkins liked the idea of getting to play “in the sandpit of Gotham.”

“It’s such an iconic universe,” he says.

Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane in 1940, Clayface has been portrayed by multiple characters in DC Comics over the decades. But the movie version is inspired by a pair of 1992 episodes from the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Series.

Ads for the film have wisely kept Harries’ full body horror transformation into the monstrous Clayface a mystery.

Likewise, any connections to the DCU’s eventual Batman (who has yet to be cast) are hidden in the film’s many Easter eggs.

“There are fairly clear Easter eggs throughout the film. But there are many Easter eggs dotted throughout that you’re going to have to kind of search for,” Harries teases.

“I spoke at length with James Gunn and Matt Reeves, and they gave me an incredible amount of freedom,” Watkins says. “We wanted Gotham to be this overbearing character that really loomed over the characters and this corrupt city … and everyone said, ‘Go for it.’ ”

After Supergirl disappointed at the box office earlier this summer, there is pressure for Clayface to prove there’s still an appetite for Gunn’s and Safran’s plans for the broader DCU.

But Watkins thinks the film will appeal to non-superhero fans because it offers “a bit of everything.”

“It’s definitely a horror movie, a body horror movie,” he says.

The fact Clayface is “not wholly a villain” will make him a tragic character that audiences will feel conflicted about, Watkins adds.

“There’s a sympathy towards him,” Watkins says. “I think villains are always much more interesting when you can understand them. When you can see how they got where they got.”

Unlike the Joker, one of Batman’s other arch-enemies, Harries wants moviegoers to be empathetic toward Hagen.

“His choices aren’t motivated by this sort of maniacal evil or nihilism,” Harries adds. “Hopefully the audience is sort of conflicted in their rooting for him for as long as possible.”

Watkins says the shape-shifting, particularly in the film’s second half, opens up so many possibilities of where the villain can go.

“There are so many horror possibilities and superhero possibilities,” he says. “He could be anyone. Where’s Clayface? Who is he? Where is he? That’s never going to get old.”

Clayface is now playing in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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