You don’t need to have opened a Batman comic to know the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. But even some hardcore comic fans and/or nerds might scratch their heads at the mention of Clayface. With a film of his own in theaters today, Gotham’s resident shape-shifter is about to become considerably better known, although putting a face to the name will remain a problem.
DC, home of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, is hoping that may turn out to be an advantage. Arriving in cinemas this Friday, Clayface takes a less familiar corner of Gotham City and gives it to James Watkins, the director of Eden Lake, The Woman in Black and Speak No Evil. His leading man is Tom Rhys Harries, whom you might remember as the doomed Ibiza DJ Axel Collins in Netflix’s White Lines.
Here, he plays an actor whose attempt to repair his ruined face turns out to be a terrible, terrible idea. Even if you're totally unfamiliar with comic book lore, there is still a straightforward proposition here: an ambitious man accepts a medical miracle, then discovers what it costs. There have been several, which is the sort of answer that makes people regret asking questions about comics.
But bear with: the relevant history is fairly simple. The first Clayface appeared in Detective Comics in 1940. Basil Karlo was an actor enraged by the prospect of his old horror film being remade without him.
In his wrath, he adopted a monstrous disguise and began murdering members of the production. Originally, the monster was a costume. A later version, Matt Hagen, acquired the ability to morph his body into different shapes.
Then Batman: The Animated Series brought elements of the two together. Its 1992 two-parter “Feat of Clay” made Hagen a disfigured actor dependent on an experimental cream that allowed him to restore his appearance. His supplier exploited that dependence; the eventual result was a shape-shifting monster.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
