Clayface cast on Elizabeth Holmes comparisons, the viral plane scene & THAT unexpected cameo

Clayface star Tom Rhys Harries says that 95% of the movie's shocking airplane-set sequence was accomplished 'in camera'.

In cinemas now, the film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, an on-the-rise actor from Gotham City who spends the night with a gangster's girlfriend. When the mobster, Markos Szabo (David Dencik), discovers them in bed together the next morning, he and his goons disfigure Matt's face.

Markos then uses bribes and intimidation to get off scot-free. He also spreads lies about Matt, so that the public turns on him.

Desperate to get his old life back, the actor seeks out Dr Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), a fringe doctor and scientist developing an AI-powered nanobot technology that can rapidly heal damaged tissue and skin.

At first, Caitlyn's experiments on Matt seem to work wonders. People think that his recovery is a miracle. Very soon, however, it becomes clear that there are unintended, strange side effects to the treatment.

Watch the trailer for Clayface right here:

Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) from a script by Hossein Amini (Drive) and Mike Flanagan (Carrie), Clayface is a fun, twisted, tragic thrill ride with something for everyone. It's a super(anti)hero origin story for a legendary Batman character; it's a visceral body horror; it's a gritty revenge thriller; it's a love triangle romance (between Matt, Caitlyn, and Caitlyn's cop fiancé, played by Max Minghella).

The movie excitingly and stylishly jumps between all these different genres, before delivering an absolute gut-punch of an ending that will haunt you long after you leave the theatre.

JOE had the pleasure of talking to Clayface's stars Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie and Max Minghella ahead of the film's release. You can read quotes from those conversations below:

Elizabeth Holmes

When details first started trickling out about Clayface, Ackie's character Dr Caitlyn Corr was compared to Elizabeth Holmes, the American businesswoman convicted of fraud in connection with her health technology company Theranos.

What a coincidence, then, that Clayface is landing in cinemas at the same time as the new acclaimed documentary about Holmes, You Can See Everything, is out in theatres in the United States and is breaking records left and right.

Ackie, however, doesn't think her character and Holmes are a one-to-one comparison.

She told JOE: "I think Caitlyn's quite different… I don't want to be controversial… [Caitlyn's] technology, it works… it works too well [she says, laughing].

"But, I guess, maybe it's the kind of push to create something, which I think is a similarity, that really direct, clear sight of what she wants to achieve.

"I feel like that's maybe the similarity, and the fact that they both work in tech, but Caitlyn's more of a medicine tech lady [focusing on] nanobot technology, which, at some point, will be a real thing, and that's going to be weird."

Plane sequence

Everyone we know who has seen Clayface can't stop talking about a particular sequence. This is when the side effects of Caitlyn's treatment force Matt to have to do impromptu eye surgery on himself in a plane bathroom during turbulence.

In fact, we personally know of two people who left their cinema screenings during this scene because they found it too stressful.

How was the effect accomplished? Like much of the movie, it was pulled off mostly practically.

Rhys Harries told JOE: "So that is all prosthetic… I would say probably about 95% of that sequence is in camera.

There's a push-in, there's a tight on prosthetics that are over a fake eye. But I'd managed to figure out a way where I was able to use the real cuticle scissors to cut just above my brow through the prosthetics that were there, and make it seem as if I'm cutting right in front of my eye.

"And I think there's something communicated through the screen which feels tactile and tangible. You wouldn't get that same feeling if it was all done in post."

We wholeheartedly agree.

That unexpected cameo (minor spoilers)

Born in Cardiff, Rhys Harries is breaking a pattern of Irish actors frequently being cast as Batman villains. Barry Keoghan, Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell and Liam Neeson have all done it.

On this, the Welshman tells JOE: "The Welsh are coming... Ireland's creative output on a global stage is really remarkable... I think Wales would do well if we were able to, in some way, shape or form, mimic that and get our stuff out onto a global stage because there are so many incredible creative voices within Wales, and you know we're a small nation, even within the UK.

"Listen, I'm a very, very proud Welshman. I'm a first-language Welsh speaker, and if I can be contributive in any way, shape or form, that would be… it just feels like a real honour."

Rhys Harries isn't the only Welsh actor in Clayface. Comedian and presenter Rob Brydon also has a role in the film as a Gotham talk show host.

This is clever casting, particularly since his The Trip co-star Steve Coogan had a small part in Joker: Folie à Deux.

That said, when Brydon first appears in Clayface, you might not expect him to pop up again later in the movie. This is for a much scarier scene, which we won't spoil the context of here.

As for working with Brydon, Rhys Harries told JOE: "Rob is great, and I think he's a brilliant dramatic actor in that trend of people with comedic backgrounds maybe having a really dark turn in them…

"He's a great mimic, but also he's a really good man, and I really enjoyed the time that we spent on set together."

Clayface is in cinemas now.