James Watkins’ Mold-Breaking Body Horror Film “Clayface” Unveils Final Trailer
Talk about breaking the mold.
The final trailer for director James Watkins’ Clayface has arrived, ushering in a new era for DC Studios. Watkins’ film is the first horror film to come out of the studio that has been bringing us films centered on Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more, and it centers on one of Batman’s most haunted villains. That would be Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a handsome Hollywood star whose future is so bright it would seem to require shades. That is, however, until he’s mutilated by a Gotham mob boss, and his career is literally slashed and cut to pieces.
The final trailer sets up the film’s central premise—Matt is willing to do anything to get his career back—and he finds a willing potential savior in scientist Caitlyn Corr (Naomie Ackie). Caitlyn has designed an experimental surgery that might restore Matt’s matinee-idol looks. And while the surgery appears to work (Matt regains his handsome looks), the side effects are extreme. An experience on a flight, glimpsed in a previous trailer and revisited here, is unpleasant, to say the least. Like many of the worst nightmares, Matt’s began as a wish come true.
The physical changes that began transforming Matt’s face are something that Caitlyn tells him he must learn to control. With control comes power. With power comes the desire for revenge. With the desire for revenge, Matt becomes Clayface, one of Gotham’s weirdest villains.
Watkins’ body-horror film is based on a script by Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive), and has been billed by DC Studios co-chief James Gunn as “one of the best scripts that we’ve read.” Gunn and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran have said Clayface will exist within the DCU, unlike, say, Matt Reeves’ The Batman or Todd Phillips’ The Joker films, which exist outside it.
Joining Harries and Ackie in the cast are Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella, David Dencik, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear, Wil Coban, Joshua James, and Jake Curran.
Watkins’ team behind the camera includes cinematographer Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris, visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton, costume designer Keith Madden, and casting director Lucy Bevan.
Check out the trailer below. Clayface is in theaters on October 23.
Featured image: Caption: TOM RHYS HARRIES as Matt Hagen in DC Studios’ “Clayface,” a Warner Bros. Pictures Release. Photo Credit: Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh
