If you’ve ever read a Batman comic featuring Clayface, you’ll have a clear image in your mind of Gotham’s gloopiest baddie: a hulking mass of malleable flesh, more all-out monster than man. The character is at the heart of the next DCU movie, Clayface – a comic book horror outing, in which Tom Rhys Harries’ actor Matt Hagen takes on a seriously experimental procedure after his face is scarred in a brutal attack. Safe to say, his face (and the rest of him) does not fare well, with icky body-horror results.
For now, the Clayface trailers have teased Hagen’s mug oozing and melting and falling out of shape – but all our glimpses so far at the character have remained recognisably humanoid. But by the sounds of it, Clayface will be going, well… full-Clayface – you just won’t see it until you’re in the cinema. “It’s fucking sick!” Rhys Harries promises Empire of his final form.
While the complete Clayface transformation is being kept under wraps, the actor delighted in shocking his loved ones during production with his melting visage. “I’d have family members or friends of mine who, after time, normalise the fact that they’re talking to me but half my face is disintegrating,” he recalls, “and then they would introduce me to somebody on FaceTime. That was funny!”
With body-horror influences ranging from The Fly to The Substance, director James Watkins – behind Eden Lake, and the Speak No Evil remake – promises nothing will be held back. “When we were at San Diego Comic-Con, people were like, ‘I hope you don’t go soft.’ And I’m like, ‘Trust me, we don’t go soft’,” he says. “But at the same time, there is that line. It’s a ride. It’s fun. It’s not torture. It’s a rollercoaster.” The countdown to full-Clayface begins now.
Read Empire‘s full Clayface feature in the Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew issue, on sale Thursday September 24. Pre-order a copy online here. Clayface comes to UK cinemas from October 23.
