CLAYFACE Set Photos Reveal Tom Rhys Harries as a Bloody Matt Hagen and Max Minghella’s Gotham Detective
We’ve got fresh set photos from Clayface, and they give us our first official look at Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, the man destined to transform into one of Batman’s most monstrous villains.
The images confirm what many suspected, showing Hagen bloodied and battered as he’s stretchered into a hospital after a brutal attack that leaves him disfigured.
The shots suggest that Hagen’s run-in with Gotham mobsters kicks off his tragic arc, ultimately leading him to the mysterious formula that will turn him into Clayface. His face is a mess of blood and bruises, marking the beginning of his terrifying transformation.
We’re also getting our first glimpse of Max Minghella on set. The actor, known for The Social Network and The Handmaid’s Tale, is playing John, a Gotham detective who begins to suspect that his fiancé Caitlin’s relationship with Hagen is more than professional.
Caitlin is played by Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Mickey 17), a biotech CEO who treats Hagen after his attack. Despite online chatter, she’s not the actress Minghella is seen filming with in these photos, which adds another layer of intrigue to how these relationships will play out.
Another cool detail spotted on set is the Gotham City Courthouse motto “Sic Parvis Magna” (“Greatness From Small Beginnings”), the same phrase seen in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. While Clayface is firmly set in the DCU and not Reeves’ BatVerse, the shared detail is a neat connective tissue for Gotham’s world-building.
For fans of the comics and Batman: The Animated Series, there are clear influences from both. In the comics, Hagen was the second Clayface, an adventurer transformed by a radioactive pool of protoplasm.
The animated series reimagined him as an actor using an experimental anti-aging cream who was eventually mutated into the grotesque villain after crossing Roland Daggett. From what we’re seeing, this film seems to pull from the animated take, especially with Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) rumored to play Hagen’s manager.
That lines up with what DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn recently said about how Clayface made its way into “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters.” Gunn explained:
"Well, I think it was just we needed DCU content. Mike Flanagan is somebody who I've been friendly with for a long time, and he wrote me about Clayface. He texted me about it really early on in my DC journey."
"Just being honest, I did not think that was something that was going to happen, but he came in and he pitched the idea and I was like, "Oh shit! That's cool." It's a body horror movie.
"It's a horror movie that, like any cool body horror movie, just happens to be in the DCU. And then he wrote the script, and the script was fantastic. We did not plan to do Clayface."
Clayface is shaping up to be a dark, character-driven addition to the DCU slate.