Clayface Star Cut Through Real Prosthetics in Gruesome Airplane Scene

DC Studios' Clayface is an R-rated body horror origin story for Matt Hagen, and its most stomach-turning scene was shot largely in camera. Director James Watkins and actor Tom Rhys Harries explain how a plane bathroom, a gimballed set and four pairs of scissors produced a sequence that had crew members groaning off camera.

A horror movie built like a roller coaster

Matt Hagen is a rising Hollywood actor who is horrifically disfigured by a mobster. He then receives experimental treatment from Dr. Caitlyn Corr and gains shapeshifting powers, at a terrible cost: when his emotions run too high, he can lose control of his body entirely.

Watkins, speaking in London, said the extreme tone was deliberate. "If you're going to buy a ticket for a horror movie, it's like buying a ticket for a roller coaster ride, right? You don't want to buy a ticket for the really boring ride," he said. "You want to buy a ticket for the really out there ride, the one with real ups and downs, the one that goes upside down and throws you around in circles."

His reference points come from the films he grew up on: "a lot of David Cronenberg, body horror, obviously Videodrome, The Fly is a massive reference for this movie, obviously, The Thing, American Werewolf in London." What those films share, he said, is "a kind of humanity to them. They have a human story that grounds it, that makes you connect with the characters."

Acting through prosthetics

Harries wore facial prosthetics covering most of his face, which changed how he had to perform. He said a smile through the appliances reads far smaller than it feels: "if I was hitting like a 20% smile, it wouldn't read as 20%, it would read at like two. So, I had to really push it." He credited cinematographer Rob Hardy with lighting the film in a way that feels colorful "whilst also maintaining the dark, dingy essence of Gotham."

The airplane bathroom scene

The sequence in question has Matt trying to cut his own eyelids open with scissors in an airplane bathroom while turbulence rocks the flight. Harries said he heard the reaction on set. "I remember hearing crew members groaning off camera," he recalled. By his account the effect is almost entirely practical: "You probably have a bit of digital smoothing around the edges of the eyes, but I'm really cutting through prosthetics in that thing, and I think that translates to a feeling when you're watching it."

Watkins described the physical setup. The production built a plane cabin tube on air bellows so the turbulence could be staged "for real, sort of," with supporting artists seated inside. The bathroom was a separate set on a gimbal, a device that can rotate. Harries wore the prosthetics and contact lenses and had four pairs of scissors to work with: a sharp pair, a dull pair, a rubber pair, and a pair with the tip missing in case it was needed.

Harries began with the sharp pair. "He just sort of started getting stuck in with the sharp pair, and I was like, 'Are we safe? Are we safe?'" Watkins said. "And he's like, 'No, no, I got it, I got it.'" Watkins added that he knew the scene was working when people at the monitors started saying "Oh my god."

Best seen with a crowd

Max Minghella, who plays GCPD cop John Borrelli, said the audience response is a highlight. "That's sort of the most fun part, is the communal experience of seeing this film in a cinema with a big crowd and getting to scream and giggle and have that whole thing together," he said. Naomi Ackie, who plays Caitlyn, said she was "buzzing" to see the finished film for the first time.

Harries watched it in a nearly empty Soho cinema with Ackie and his agent. He praised editor John Harris and the film's pacing, adding: "I'm so excited for people to see it."

Clayface arrives on October 23.