During last night's Jim Lee and Friends San Diego Comic-Con panel, the acclaimed artist, publisher, President and CCO of DC Comics was joined by Clayface director James Watkins and star Tom Rhys Harries to discuss the next film in the burgeoning DCU.
At one point, Harries drew a simple doodle, which Lee worked into a sketch of the shape-shifting villain's monstrous final form.
We're not sure if this is exactly how Matt Hagen will look when fully transformed in the movie, but we have heard that he will resemble the version of the character from Batman: The Animated Series, so it's likely to be pretty close.
During an interview with Deadline, Watkins spoke about following the R-rated Joker and the inevitable comparisons to The Substance.
"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."
Watkins also revealed what influences he drew from for this take on Matt Hagen.
"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.
It was recently confirmed that the version of Clayface we met in the Creature Commandos animated series was indeed the same Matt Gagen, so it should be interesting to see if any parallels emerge in this movie.
Check out Lee's sketch below, along with the recent full trailer.
DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the Gotham City villain. Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition.
The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James. James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, story by Flanagan, based on characters from DC.
Clayface is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Rafi Crohn, Paul Ritchie, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars P. Winther executive producing.