DC Studios has found the actor to help mold its Clayface movie. Tom Rhys Harries, a Welsh actor who is relatively unknown Stateside, will star as the Batman villain known for his ability to shape-shift.
The casting ends a search that focused on young, British actors for the project. Among those in the mix has been Sinners bad guy Jack O’Connell, Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes‘ Tom Blyth, Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) and George MacKay, star of war movie 1917. Sources said DC toppers James Gunn and Peter Safran weren’t ready to pull the trigger on those that they met with and went deeper into the well.
Speak No Evil director James Watkins will direct Clayface, which is said to be a stripped down movie, with a budget in the $40 million range. According to sources, it centers on B-movie actor who becomes a walking piece of clay after injecting himself with a substance in an attempt to keep himself relevant.
Prolific horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan wrote the script for Clayface, which has a release date of Sept. 11, 2026, and is expected to film later this year. The Batman director Matt Reeves will produce, along with Lynn Harris and Gunn and Safran.
This is a massive break for the 35-year-old actor who has been notching screen credits with work on screen and stage in the UK since around 20 years old. Among his early gigs was a role on BBC fantasy drama Jekyll & Hyde, and making his West End debut in Mojo with Ben Whishaw and Rupert Grint.
In recent years, he appeared in the short-lived AppleTV+ series Suspicion and the short-lived Netflix series White Lines. He also had a role in the 2023 Gerard Butler action drama Kandahar.
