Clayface’s Tom Rhys Harries says prosthetics helped performance

Actors are often said to be the face of the film, but in Tom Rhys Harries’ breakout role in DC’s latest blockbuster, that part of the body becomes the focal point to chart the character’s descent into villainy.

Rhys Harries plays the lead in Clayface as Matt Hogan, a handsome, successful actor.

When his face is mutilated in an attack, he volunteers for trials of a new treatment with horrifying side effects that transform his face into living clay.

The Welsh actor said he spent about half of his time on the set with the special effects make-up team, transforming into the mutant villain.

Despite the difficulty of wearing extensive prosthetics during filming, Rhys Harries said it helped him portray the distress of his character in a film that has been described as a body horror psychological thriller.

“There was a benefit to having it, because the character is in discomfort”, he said.

Clayface first appeared in DC comics in 1940 as a Batman villain, however the character has never been adapted for cinema, until now, and it is the first major studio movie role for Rhys Harries.