DC’s Clayface has officially kicked off production, and the first set images give fans their first look at Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, the man destined to become one of Batman’s most grotesque and tragic foes. Filming is underway in Liverpool, where the city streets have been transformed into Gotham (movie magic, folks) with Harries spotted in character looking bloodied and disfigured—seemingly moments before his horrifying transformation into Clayface.
The messed-up new entry in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU comes from director James Watkins (The Woman in Black), with a screenplay by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Drive). From the looks of these first images, the film is leaning hard into the horror side of superhero storytelling, which is pretty cool, because it’s distinctly different to anything else in the DCU to date.
Who Is Tom Rhys Harries?
When Harries was announced as Clayface earlier this year, Gunn was pretty ebullient about the decision and made it clear that this was a casting triumph:
“After a long and incredibly exhaustive search, we finally have our DCU Clayface in Tom Rhys Harries. Both [The Batman director] Matt Reeves and I were blown away by this guy, and we can’t wait for you to see this film.”
The actor plays Matt Hagen, an aspiring star whose career dreams are shattered when his face is disfigured by a gangster. Desperate for a cure, he turns to a controversial scientist for experimental treatment that offers hope—before spiraling into something far darker. The official logline describes Clayface as a body-horror tragedy: an actor who turns to untested science to restore his face, only to become something monstrous. Gunn teased that this entry will feel completely distinct from other DCU titles:
“We’ve got Clayface, which is a totally different thing. Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film. That’s one of the things we want to do—there’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like Superman. The artists—the directors and the writers—each one will bring their own sense to it… We don’t want people to get bored. We want to invigorate people.”
Alongside Harries, the ensemble includes Naomi Ackie as Caitlin Bates, Eddie Marsan as Hagen’s manager and Max Minghella as John, Caitlin’s fiancé and the film’s secondary antagonist. The film is produced by Gunn, Safran, Matt Reeves, and Lynn Harris, with Chantal Nong executive producing.
Clayface opens in theaters on September 11, 2026.
via Collider