CLAYFACE Director Reveals Aaron Paul Originally Had a Much Bigger Role Before His Scenes Were Cut

If you caught Aaron Paul in DC's Clayface and wondered why the Breaking Bad star was barely in the movie, there's a good reason for that. It turns out his surprise cameo was originally part of a much larger role, but most of his scenes didn't survive the final cut.

Paul plays Jimmy "One Nut," the deceased father of Matt Hagen, and briefly appears during the film's intense nightclub sequence. During the fight, Matt uses his shapeshifting abilities to transform into his father while attacking a thug who knew him.

It's a strange little moment that raises questions about Matt's troubled past, especially since the movie doesn't spend much time exploring his relationship with his father.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director James Watkins revealed that Paul originally had a supporting role, with additional scenes exploring Matt's childhood. Those flashbacks were actually filmed, but the filmmakers ultimately decided to take the story in a different direction.

Watkins describes Paul's appearance in the finished film as "a real brief Easter egg kind of moment," explaining that the decision to remove the flashbacks came down to how much Matt's past should influence his transformation into the DC villain.

"In terms of trying to figure out the character, it was, How much is Matt defined by his past, and how much is he an everyman?"

"At one point, we were looking at it and thinking, Is it the 'sins of the father'? But actually, as we worked on the script, I thought that notion of revenge was more universal and more relatable to all of us."

"It doesn’t matter whether you’re carrying a trauma or any of that. If we’re slighted, we carry this sense of being wronged, and we all want to do something, but generally in life we can’t do anything about it, and we’re powerless."

Rather than making Matt's villainous transformation primarily about childhood trauma, Watkins wanted audiences to recognize something more familiar in his desire for revenge.

"With Matt, it’s not that he’s a bad guy trying to be good," the filmmaker explained. "He’s a decent guy, but then like all people, we all have primal impulses within us that can be dangerous, whether that’s impulses for love, whether that’s impulses for retribution."

Watkins was more interested in watching an ordinary person discover terrifying abilities and gradually lose control of what he does with them.

The deleted childhood scenes may have originated with Mike Flanagan's earlier version of Clayface, although that hasn't been confirmed. It's possible that the shift toward a more universal revenge story made Matt's family history less important to the finished film.

Still, the decision to have Matt briefly become his father carries some meaning. According to Watkins, Matt is probably telling himself, "He’s probably also saying, 'No, I’m not my father.'"

The director also discussed the film's memorable nightclub sequence and why he wanted Matt's use of his powers to feel dangerous and unpredictable rather than turning him into an instant action hero.

"I hate it in movies when a normal person suddenly becomes like a Navy SEAL, and they suddenly can be this ninja," Watkins said. "I kept saying in that scene, Matt’s superpower is his ability to shift and to change."

"It’s his ability to disguise...and then earning a kind of complicity with the audience. The audience being locked in with Matt and enjoying it, saying we’re all together on this ride, then when he starts going too far, it puts the audience in a queasy spot.”

That approach makes the nightclub fight interesting. We're watching Matt discover what he can do, using those abilities against his enemies. But as his actions become increasingly brutal, the excitement starts turning into something much more disturbing.

As for Paul, it's a shame that so much of his performance was cut. Having the Paul star play Matt Hagen's father could have added an interesting dimension to the character, particularly if those childhood flashbacks explored their relationship. It’s a shame they were cut.

Clayface is now playing in theaters.