Tom Rhys Harries shared the chaotic moment of a phone call that changed everything for him. The Welsh actor was cycling through London to calm his nerves when the life-changing news about Clayface came through. The Light in the Hall actor takes on the role of Matt Hagen in Clayface, a superhero-horror movie directed by James Watkins.
Speaking alongside Watkins at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) on July 23, Tom Rhys Harries described a casting process that stretched over two intensely stressful months. “It was a really strange situation because usually I think with those calls, with a project of this size, my agents would call me together on a group call,”Rhys Harries informed People. Then his British agent was boarding a flight back from the United States when he learned that a press release unveiling the casting would be issued within two hours.
“He called just before boarding a flight. So he was like, ‘I have to tell you this, because this press release is going to go out in about two hours,’”the actor recalled. “I was out riding my bike trying to distract myself; this had been a pretty big stress test over probably about a two month period at this point.
So I was waiting to find out.” Once the call wrapped up, tension gave way to joy. Rhys Harries spent the afternoon pedalling through the capital, sharing the secret with his inner circle.
“I was just cycling around London, calling my family and some friends of mine,”he added. The role is a significant leap for Tom Rhys Harries, known for appearances in The Gentlemen and The Return. In Clayface, he plays a Gotham City actor disfigured by a gangster.
A desperate search for a cure leads him to an experimental serum that grotesquely transforms him into the shape-shifting villain familiar to Batman fans. Naomi Ackie co-stars as the scientist administering the treatment. The film, which also features Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan and David Dencik, forms part of James Gunn’s new DC Universe.
Clayface is releasing in cinemas on October 23. Evolve Media is a publisher of leading enthusiast destinations.