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

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Comedian-book films have by no means been shy about embracing villains. However DC followers have by no means seen dedication to gore fairly like what’s on show in Clayface, DC Studios’ new movie set within the Batman universe.

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A giant-screen film centring on the lesser-known, shape-shifting supervillain takes the style in a brand new path by mixing superhero movies with R-rated horror.

Producer James Gunn, who runs DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, has made Clayface a part of their first batch of DCU movies and reveals, which has to date included Superman, Supergirl, Lanterns, Peacemaker and Creature Commandos.

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

Within the new movie, which is now taking part in in theatres, Tom Rhys Harries performs Matt Hagen, a younger actor who’s disfigured by a mob boss in Batman’s Gotham Metropolis.

Hagen, as soon as a rising star, turns to Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who affords him the prospect to regain his previous life utilizing an experimental clay-like drug that restores his former look.

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As Hagen’s profession begins to rebound, his remedy goes awry, inflicting him to descend into insanity as he embarks on a murderous path of revenge.

In a single squeamish scene, Hagen’s face begins to sag and soften, forcing him to drag out a pair of scissors to snip away the sticky mess from his eyelids.

Earlier than the Toronto premiere of the movie, Harries says that storyline gave screenwriter Mike Flanagan, who has tailored quite a few Stephen King works for movie and tv, “open area” to discover the “psychological unravelling of somebody.”

As Hagen reacts to Dr. Corr’s medication, his face and physique more and more endure a collection of chilling physique horror transformations.

“How the shape-shifting occurs is assorted all through the movie,” Harries tells Postmedia. “However we had some enjoyable with how we get into these transitions.”

Director James Watkins, who’s greatest recognized for helming movies like Communicate No Evil and The Lady in Black, calls Hagen’s downfall “a tragedy in three acts.”

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“It follows the journey of a personality who goes from being a pleasant man and reveals how a person turns into a monster,” Watkins says.

Getting into the Bat-verse

After quite a few Batman movies which have centred on the crime-fighting Caped Crusader, Watkins favored the concept of attending to play “within the sandpit of Gotham.”

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

Created by Invoice Finger and Bob Kane in 1940, Clayface has been portrayed by a number of characters in DC Comics over the a long time. However the film model is impressed by a pair of 1992 episodes from the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Sequence.

Adverts for the movie have properly stored Harries’ full physique horror transformation into the monstrous Clayface a thriller.

Likewise, any connections to the DCU’s eventual Batman (who has but to be solid) are hidden within the movie’s many Easter eggs.

“There are pretty clear Easter eggs all through the movie. However there are a lot of Easter eggs dotted all through that you simply’re going to must form of seek for,” Harries teases.

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“I spoke at size with James Gunn and Matt Reeves, they usually gave me an unimaginable quantity of freedom,” Watkins says. “We wished Gotham to be this overbearing character that actually loomed over the characters and this corrupt metropolis … and everybody stated, ‘Go for it.’ ”

After Supergirl dissatisfied on the field workplace earlier this summer season, there may be strain for Clayface to show there’s nonetheless an urge for food for Gunn’s and Safran’s plans for the broader DCU.

However Watkins thinks the movie will enchantment to non-superhero followers as a result of it affords “a little bit of every little thing.”

“It’s undoubtedly a horror film, a physique horror film,” he says.

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

“There’s a sympathy in direction of him,” Watkins says. “I believe villains are at all times way more attention-grabbing when you’ll be able to perceive them. When you’ll be able to see how they received the place they received.”

In contrast to the Joker, considered one of Batman’s different arch-enemies, Harries desires moviegoers to be empathetic towards Hagen.

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“His decisions aren’t motivated by this form of maniacal evil or nihilism,” Harries provides. “Hopefully the viewers is form of conflicted of their rooting for him for so long as attainable.”

Watkins says the shape-shifting, notably within the movie’s second half, opens up so many potentialities of the place the villain can go.

“There are such a lot of horror potentialities and superhero potentialities,” he says. “He could possibly be anybody. The place’s Clayface? Who’s he? The place is he? That’s by no means going to get previous.”

Clayface is now taking part in in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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