Clayface's Most Emotionally Complex Transformation Scene Explained By Director James Watkins

Published Nov 15, 2026, 4:48 PM EST Andy Behbakht has worked as an entertainment journalist since 2010, covering all the latest in Hollywood on both the big and small screens, from staying on top of the biggest breaking news, analyzing movies and television shows in Hollywood, to in-depth interviews with actors and storytellers. Andy's career includes having worked for publications such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It's Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more. Outside of his career as an established reporter, Andy is the host and producer of The Showrunner Whisperer, The Flash Podcast, the editor-in-chief of Multiverse of Color, and the network director of DC TV Podcasts. Sign in to your ScreenRant account EXCLUSIVE: The DC Universe has finished its 2026 run with a visit to Gotham City. One of the latest installments in the DCU's Chapter 1: "Gods and Monsters" leaned into one of Batman's famous super-villains, allowing Matt Hagen to get his live-action debut, played by Tom Rhys Harries. As his big-screen introduction depicted his origin story, the world got to witness how he became the iconic shape-shifter. In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant's Andy Behbakht, James Watkins, who directed Clayface for DC Studios, spoke about the use of practical effects versus CGI, with one of the most crucial scenes being when Dr. Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, observed Matt's nanite treatment while he was asleep. According to the filmmaker, there were numerous ways they tackled that moment in particular. "This scene, obviously, it's Tom's character, Matt, starting to go through these changes, and Naomi Ackie's character, Caitlyn, is starting to be concerned by what's happening to him. And she's kind of starting to realize that there's something going on in his unconscious, and she says, "I need to observe you while you sleep," he began before sharing, "what I liked about [what] we tried to dig into the scene was the tone of it, the sort of weird psychosexual tone, and it being about character because in their journey, it's kind of a love scene and it's her, but it's a weird psychosexual love scene where she's looking at him." Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order. According to Watkins, the Clayface movie "tries to walk this line, 'Is she a scientist? How much is she viewing him as a scientist? How much is she viewing him as a woman?' He's her project, and it's that kind of notion of transference between the two of them." He went on to share the following about what this scene does for the larger story, especially as Tom Rhys Harries' leading character grew closer to becoming the famous Batman foe: James Watkins: Is there attraction? There is an attraction, but also is it because he's cured her or [because] she's sort of his doctor, he's sort of her patient? So I wanted to catch all of that within the scene, which gives it a real kind of ambiguity, and also wanted to have the audience really, really leaning in. So we shot the scene, actually. It's kind of slightly absurd when you're shooting things sometimes, so we'd shoot it in very different ways, but old school. So we'd have Naomi in the chair watching, but nobody in the bed, or you'd have her with Tom in the bed, and then you'd have nobody in the chair and then Naomi in the bed. And sometimes you'd have almost both of them in the bed when you're shooting shots of the bed. So it'd be Naomi's body, but Tom would be lying in the bed, just out of vision of the camera, and sometimes his hand snakes up, coming around us. We'd just do it practically sometimes to try and catch the sense of the sort of blurring. But we always made sure that their movements - we'd do a take with Tom and do a take with Naomi, and they'd always watch each other and replicate their movements. And then if they did something that was very deliberately sexualized or something, they'd definitely mimic that. And so then, really, when you're trying to put together the piece in the edit, Jon Harris, the editor, would be able to almost just do a kind of very simple kind of mix and overlay, like an old-school effect that you can just do in the Avid where you could just slowly blend between the two of them. I like to do things practically. And so you've got very straightforward bass. And then, of course, there are some points there where you have to put a little layer of VFX onto it, just when you're merging from skin to skin or an eye to an eye, but you've got a really, really grounded and real base that you're building upon. The work is quite straightforward and simple. But it was that kind of fluidity that we wanted to have within the scene, which we thought was quite important. And that also lent itself to the music, that leaning in, the kind of weird-hypnotic-mesmeric. I talked a lot with Volker Bertelmann about that. You don't ever want to lead the audience [on.] You want them to be kind of slightly hypnotized by the scene, and it's interesting watching the scene with an audience because they're like, "Okay, should we be watching this? Should we be enjoying this? Is she watching it? Is she enjoying it?" It has a kind of interesting queasiness because it has a kind of voyeuristic complexity to it, which I think is really an interesting thing. My favorite filmmaker is Hitchcock, so I try and aspire to do that kind of dance with the audience that he does in his films, where you know the audience are participating in it in a way, I suppose. Following the Clayface ending, Caitlyn and Matt are on very opposite ends, as she shuts down her research facility and looks to move on with her life. Meanwhile, the DC foe has gone into hiding, as audience members see him in his monstrous form. As far as what is next for Matt, only time will tell. Clayface is now playing in theaters. Release Date October 23, 2026 Runtime 108 Minutes Director James Watkins Writers Mike Flanagan, Hossein Amini Producers James Gunn, Lynn Harris, Matt Reeves, Peter Safran Cast Tom Rhys Harries Matt Hagen / Clayface Naomi Ackie Dr. Caitlin Bates Franchise(s) DCU Main Genre Horror Executive Producer(s) Mike Flanagan, Rafi Crohn, Chantal Nong Vo, Michael E. Uslan, Lars P. Winther, Paul Ritchie