One of the coolest surprises to come out of San Diego Comic-Con wasn’t a trailer or a casting announcement. It happened during the Jim Lee and Friends panel, where fans got an unexpected appearance from Clayface director James Watkins and the film’s star Tom Rhys Harries.
Along with teasing what’s coming in the DCU movie, the panel also gave fans a first look at a cool sketch that teases Clayface’s terrifying final form.
During the panel, Harries drew a simple doodle that Lee transformed into an awesome illustration of the shape-shifting villain in his monstrous state.
While it hasn’t been confirmed that this is exactly how Matt Hagen will appear in the movie, we’ve heard the character will closely resemble his iconic look from Batman: The Animated Series, making Lee’s artwork a pretty good indication of what audiences can expect.
If the artwork wasn’t enough to get horror fans excited, Watkins also offered some fresh details about the movie during an interview with Deadline, including what audiences should expect from its R-rated approach.
The filmmaker addressed comparisons to Joker and The Substance, explaining that Clayface is carving out its own identity.
“Those are both great films, but this is a very different story and a very different universe. It creates its own atmosphere, it creates its own vibe, and the story of Matt Hagen is its own story and I think it’s a compelling one and it takes people on a real roller coaster journey.
“It’s going to give people a lot of ick and a lot of gore. But there’s also an emotional core that gives it a dimension. When you sit and watch this, and you feel the anima of an audience responding to the film, there’s some comfort in that, I suppose.”
That certainly sounds like the movie will embrace its body horror elements, but Watkins also makes it clear that the gruesome visuals won’t come at the expense of the character. The horror is only one piece of Matt Hagen’s story, with the emotional tragedy sitting right alongside it.
Watkins also discussed the comic book influences that shaped his version of Clayface, revealing that he pulled inspiration from several incarnations of the character while making Hagen the emotional center of the story.
“Everything, the Basil Karlo, Matt Hagen and all the variations. There’s a lot of inspirations from a lot of the various comics. For fans who want to do a deep dive, there are a lot of references.
“For me, I wanted to dig into the emotion of the character in a deeper way. What I really responded to in all the previous iterations was the sadness, the melancholy, the heartbreak, and give it a tragic dimension, trying to find that journey about Hagen being rejected and trying to find his way. The duality of Clayface is really interesting, he’s antihero but not wholly a villain.”
Clayface has always been one of Batman’s most tragic adversaries, and it sounds like the film intends to lean into the heartbreak just as much as the horror.
Between Watkins promising “a lot of ick and a lot of gore” and Jim Lee offering fans an early glimpse of Clayface’s monstrous transformation, this Comic-Con appearance only raised anticipation for what’s shaping up to be one of DC’s most intriguing upcoming films.
