00:00Are you okay?
00:05What's happening to me?
00:07You have to learn to control it.
00:10Hello, hi, this is Bhavna from India today.
00:13Hi Bhavna.
00:14Hi Bhavna.
00:15I have to firstly tell you that when I was watching the film,
00:19I was just like, oh my God, how is this even happening?
00:21Like, oh my God, what is happening?
00:23But tell me, Tom, especially to you because you play a character
00:27which has such a history, especially in the DC Universe
00:31and the Batman Universe as well.
00:33Knowing that there is a history, especially in comic books, that exist.
00:37And I read somewhere that you mentioned that you have read it
00:40and you have watched it before in animated series as well.
00:44Knowing that, did it make it easier to then play Clayface
00:47this time around in live action?
00:49Yeah, of course, you start any project and you have nerves surrounding
00:57doing that.
00:58And I think when you have something like Clayface that has a long
01:00and storied history, you know, he's existed since 1940.
01:05And there have been many different iterations of Matt Hagen,
01:09Preston Payne, Basil Carlo.
01:11And I just, the overwhelming feeling that, or overriding feeling rather,
01:17that I had in relation to it was just the sense of privilege
01:22to be able to bring that character to live action for the first time
01:25and for the definitive version of Clayface.
01:28Ooh!
01:30I love it!
01:33Mic drop. It's done.
01:35We don't need to do this.
01:37But you know, when I was watching the...
01:41When I was watching, another aspect that really struck a chord with me
01:44is how entertainment industry, in fact, in the social media world
01:48that we live in.
01:50It's common for everyone where we put...
01:53Or a lot of importance is given to one's appearance versus how they are otherwise.
01:58And that can really consume a lot of your personal time and your confidence as well.
02:03So as actors, what did you perhaps learn during the process of this film?
02:09Where did you think that...
02:11Or was it...
02:12Was there a moment where you were like, oh my God, I didn't realize.
02:14But yes, there's a lot of importance that people give to appearance
02:20and how other people perceive you versus how you perceive yourself.
02:24I learned that engaging in non-human trials tested medical experiments
02:30is probably an unwise choice.
02:33Yeah, there's another way.
02:35Yeah, you've got to find alternative avenues.
02:40I think that the vanity of it gets pretty...
02:43It gets boring pretty quickly.
02:46And really you have to sort of...
02:48It just acts as a coat hanger in some regards
02:51for us to tell this story about these people.
02:53It's a backdrop that Matt has within his industry.
02:57You know, it'd be like a carpenter losing his hands.
03:00It's a tool that he needs to fulfill his job
03:03and to belong to the community and the professional community
03:05that he has fostered.
03:07So that...
03:08Yeah, the vanity aspect of it, I think, is...
03:12It only scratches the surface.
03:15Naomi, for you, apart from the character, of course,
03:18I want to know, as Naomi, did you ever have a moment
03:21where you're like, oh my God, am I getting...
03:23Or am I focusing too much on vanity sometimes versus how people...
03:27Oh, all the time. The answer is yes.
03:31No, I think, yeah, yes.
03:34And like, you know, vanity is something that we will have to deal with.
03:38Probably not to the extremes of this story,
03:40but it's something that plays on your mind,
03:42especially in a public-facing job.
03:45I think the thing that is actually truly terrifying to me
03:48is the idea of something happening
03:50where I can't do the thing I love to do.
03:53And what that would mean for me
03:55because our jobs or our careers,
03:59the people we surround ourselves with
04:01is a part of our identity.
04:03And that's quite a scary thought
04:04that not you choose to willingly go and leave
04:08and do something else, but it's taken from you.
04:10That would be a horrific thing to encounter.
04:13Absolutely.
04:14I think you all should be ready for all the awards as well
04:18once the film releases, because it definitely deserves one.
04:21Thank you so much for your time.
04:23Thank you so much.
04:27Hello. Hi, James. How are you?
04:29This is Bhavna from India today.
04:31Hello. Lovely to see you.
04:33Same here.
04:34I have to say that throughout,
04:36I was just telling Tom and Naomi
04:38that throughout, when I watched the film,
04:40I was just like, oh my God, how is this happening?
04:42Why is this happening? Oh my God.
04:44But you know, you have a knack to deliver
04:47when it comes to anything that is related to psychological,
04:51horror, thriller.
04:52But why?
04:53Because Clayface is traditionally a Batman villain, right?
04:57It exists in that universe.
04:59And I was curious to know,
05:01what about him fascinated you to make this standalone,
05:05first ever live action film on him?
05:09I guess the journey of the character,
05:12the sort of tragedy of the character,
05:14the heartbreak of the character,
05:15taking somebody that's at the top of the world,
05:19a good guy,
05:20and then seeing how events and trauma
05:23and where that can take them
05:25and understanding the monster within.
05:27I just thought,
05:28when I read Mike Flanagan's first script,
05:30there was just so much riches,
05:33both in terms of the journey
05:35and the tragedy and the emotion,
05:37but also there were scenes,
05:39there was great moments that I thought,
05:42oh, okay, this is a gift to a director.
05:45Absolutely.
05:46You know, James Gunn's DC Universe,
05:49I think it lets you experiment
05:51with where you want to take the character,
05:53how far do you want to take them as well.
05:55But with Clayface,
05:57I want to understand as a director,
05:58how much of a creative freedom did you have
06:00when it comes to just establishing it
06:03as a standalone film,
06:04knowing that it will eventually connect
06:07to the larger DC Universe as well?
06:09Honestly, I had wonderful creative freedom.
06:12They were so supportive,
06:14and, you know,
06:16from when we first spoke
06:18and I pitched how I wanted to go for it,
06:21and everyone signed up to that,
06:24all the way through,
06:26there were no kind of mandates.
06:28There was no, you need to do this
06:29or you need to do that.
06:30I think they just wanted me to try and make
06:33the best version of the film that I could make,
06:36and it was, you know, it was great.
06:38You know, they really trusted me as a filmmaker
06:41and empowered me to do that, really.
06:47Absolutely.
06:48And I was, again, very, very curious, you know,
06:50because I think every director has this one scene,
06:53or multiple scenes,
06:54but I would like you to tell me that one scene,
06:57that you were not sure on paper
06:59how will it look eventually after everything is done,
07:02and when you finally saw it,
07:04you were like, you know what?
07:05We really pulled this off.
07:08There's a scene towards the end of the movie
07:10in a nightclub where,
07:11I mean, I thought it was going to work,
07:13but there were so many moving parts to it.
07:17And it was a real challenge to shoot
07:20and to make sure that it was clear
07:22and you could follow it.
07:23There's not a lot of dialogue.
07:24There's a lot of action.
07:27But, and the tone of it,
07:28I wanted to have this kind of dark glee to it
07:30and taking the audience on the ride with the character
07:33as he starts to discover his powers.
07:35So that scene and seeing that scene
07:39and seeing how audience respond to it,
07:43I'm really proud of.
07:45Absolutely.
07:45I think that is perhaps one of the first moments in the film
07:48where you understand that Matt is also understanding
07:52and is able to control the power that he has,
07:56because by then he was just exploring,
07:58but I think that is exactly where you understand.
08:00Yes.
08:01What was your brief to Tom though, if I may ask?
08:04I guess it's always you trying to get,
08:06what are you trying to achieve?
08:07You know, and he's trying to,
08:10he's trying to get to a certain place.
08:12And, and so he's, how is, how does he achieve it?
08:16But then also we kind of,
08:20at the same time beyond just trying to achieve something,
08:22there's a sense in that he's starting to also enjoy it.
08:26And there's a sort of, like I say,
08:28a dark glee that's coming through
08:31and allowing that to come through in his face
08:35and allowing us almost to sort of enjoy it,
08:38even though it's quite dark.
08:41So, so yeah, calibrating that was something
08:43that we talked about a lot.
08:45Lovely. On that note,
08:46thank you so much and all the very best.
08:49Thanks so much.
