'Clayface' finally reveals first full look at DC's terrifying body horror villain in new trailer
DC Studios has released the first full trailer for 'Clayface,' giving audiences the clearest look yet at Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen and the physical changes that turn him into the Batman villain. The footage follows Hagen after an attack leaves his face disfigured and ends his career as a Hollywood leading man. With his career, public image, and future seemingly gone, he approaches scientist Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, and asks to take part in her experimental treatments. The treatment restores his appearance, but the trailer soon shows his skin shifting, his facial features disappearing, and his behavior becoming harder to control.
The trailer begins with Hagen asking to see what happened to his face before telling Corr he wants his life back. Corr warns him that the procedure is not cosmetic surgery, but he agrees to continue even if it kills him. After the treatment, Hagen initially says that he feels fine and even claims that he feels better than before. Corr then admits that she does not know what side effects he may experience or how she would treat them. The trailer's most graphic body-horror sequence occurs during a flight, when Hagen realizes his eyelids are melting over his eyes. He rushes into the airplane bathroom and uses sewing scissors to cut through the skin covering them while turbulence shakes the cabin. Director James Watkins told EW that the scene was filmed on a moving set and required real, rubber, and modified scissors. Watkins said some crew members turned away while watching the sequence because of how close the scissors appeared to get to Harries' eye.
The treatment also appears to affect Hagen's state of mind as anger over his attack and the loss of his career begins driving his actions. Corr tells him that he must let go of any anger he is holding, but Hagen responds by listing the people and systems he believes failed him. He says the people he trusted betrayed him and that the justice system did not help him. The trailer later shows Hagen declaring, ''I'm a monster,'' as the footage points toward a revenge story rather than a traditional superhero origin. Although the trailer offers the first extended look at Hagen's changing body, it does not reveal Clayface's final form. Watkins told EW that the full transformation is being saved for theaters and said the design was influenced by body-horror films, including 'The Fly.' The movie also introduces Ackie's Caitlyn as the head of a nanotechnology company and Max Minghella as Gotham City police detective John Pearlman, her fiancé.
Caitlyn's engagement to Pearlman also places Hagen at the center of a personal conflict as the treatment begins to change both his body and his relationship with her. 'Clayface' is directed by Watkins from a screenplay credited to Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. James Gunn, Peter Safran, Lynn Harris, and 'The Batman' filmmaker Matt Reeves are among the producers, while David Dencik, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll and Joshua James also appear in the cast. The film is set within Gunn and Safran's DC Universe but remains separate from Reeves' Robert Pattinson-led 'The Batman' franchise. The R-rated 'Clayface' opens in theaters on October 23 as the DCU's first feature-length horror film.
