Tom Rhys Harries on Clayface before October 23 release
The Clayface star remembers discovering the DC villain through a Batman cartoon and explains why Matt Hagen starts the film with no idea of the monster ahead.
Tom Rhys Harries is stepping into one of Gotham’s most unstable identities in DC Studios’ Clayface. The actor says the role first clicked for him long before the script arrived, when he was still a child watching a Batman cartoon.
A villain he already knew
Harries told Pinkvilla that he was aware of Clayface “from watching the Batman cartoon series” as a child. He also noted that the comic-book character dates back to the 1940s, while the Matt Hagen iteration he plays was created in the 1960s.
For Harries, the challenge is almost existential. “It’s interesting when you have a character that is able to shapeshift into anybody or anything, how do you get under the skin of a character who can do that?” he said.
Matt Hagen before the monster
Directed by James Watkins, the film follows Matt Hagen, a Hollywood actor whose career collapses after a cruel incident. A cutting-edge treatment restores his looks but comes with disturbing side effects that push him toward revenge.
Harries says the film meets Hagen before he understands the full horror of what is happening. “When we meet Matt in this movie, he has no concept of Clayface. He’s just trying to maintain his life,” he explained.
The psychological layer, he adds, is about whether people run toward something or away from something. In Clayface, those two directions blur, and Hagen’s choices become clearer only as his transformation takes hold.
Why Indian fans should circle the date
Clayface arrives in cinemas on 23 October 2026 in both English and Hindi. For Indian superhero and horror fans, that means a same-day local-language option rather than waiting for a dub.
- Director: James Watkins.
- Screenplay: Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.
- Cast: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James.
- Producers: Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn, and Peter Safran.
The DC Studios project leans into horror and psychological thriller territory, with a villain whose whole power is becoming someone else. That makes the film less a conventional superhero outing and more a study of identity and consequence.
Source: PINKVILLA
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