Exclusive: Clayface star Tom Rhys Harries reveals his mum's hilarious reaction to gruesome scene

Clayface star Tom Rhys Harries has shared his mother's hilarious reaction to one particularly gruesome scene in the new movie. The DC flick, which has just hit cinemas, follows his titular central character, aka Matt Hagen.

Hagen is a successful movie star whose face gets disfigured during an encounter with the girlfriend of a Gotham kingpin. He then seeks specialist nanotechnology treatment, though quickly starts to lose his sense of reality.

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One notable moment in the film involves eyes being cut by scissors, though Tom has revealed in an exclusive chat with Digital Spy that instead of heaping praise on her son, his mum gave him an amusing bit of feedback while watching the sequence.

"During the premiere in LA, my mum turned to me during the eye-cutting sequence on the plane and I thought she was going to tell me that she was proud of me, but she whispered in my ear and went, 'Can you do a period piece?'" he recalled.

Tom also opened up about the movie's unexpected flashmob scene in the final act, revealing that it was actually his suggestion to director James Watkins.

"I suggested the dance, and I was surprised that James [Watkins] kept it in the cut, but I'm glad he did," the star shared.

"By that part of the film, we were kind of near the end of shooting and everybody was a bit doolally, so I was like, 'James, this might be mad, but what if we break into a flashmob?'... We added a day on shoot to get it in and that two week period where we shot that sequence was very fun.

"I think at that point in the film and in that point in Matt's journey, he's revelling in just taking his foot off any kind of break and firmly placing it on the accelerator. He's like, 'F**k it, I'm a villain, and I'm going to kill you all'."

Digital Spy awarded Clayface three stars, saying in our review that "you'll be left squirming from the body horror and the gore, impressed by Harries in the lead and a genuine villain story, while being a bit underwhelmed with everything else".

Clayface is out now in cinemas.

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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International.  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.