De aankomende Clayface-film combineert gruwelijke horror met een klassieke wraaktragedie. Het verhaal volgt Matt Hagen, een gruwelijk verminkte opkomende Hollywood-ster die de onrechtvaardigheden die hem zijn aangedaan wil rechtzetten.
Regisseur James Watkins legde uit hoe het productieteam ervoor zorgde dat kijkers zich blijven identificeren met de hoofdpersoon, ook wanneer het verhaal donkerder wordt. Het proces begon met een grondige scriptanalyse om Matt Hagens achtergrond en de omstandigheden die tot zijn situatie leidden te begrijpen.
It started off with the script, working with the script to really understand Matt, where he came from, how he came from nowhere and got to that situation. So when it's all pulled away, we're on his side. And then it's casting, finding the right actor, and when Tom came in, I thought, 'This could be the guy,' because it's just someone that you can be rooting for all the way through that journey, and still have sympathy towards them. That's not easy. A lot of actors don't have that. So, finding that, and then the dark glee as he discovers his powers.
Het creatieve team wilde ook dat kijkers hun eigen grenzen in vraag stellen naarmate het verhaal vordert. Harries merkte op dat het personage zich niet bewust is van zijn uiteindelijke pad en blijft proberen zonder de intentie om slecht te worden.
He doesn't know where it's going. That's a fairly basic thing to say, but it's true. He's always trying. He's not wanting to be bad. He's just increasingly giving in to more carnal, primal urges that he has, because he feels like he has no other place to go or to turn to. Hopefully, it kind of co-opts the audience to a point where you question where your ethical line is.
De film bevat ook een gelaagde romantische dynamiek tussen Caitlyn en John. Naomie Ackie, die Caitlyn speelt, beschreef het stel als diep verbonden maar gevangen in herhalende patronen. De weergave vermijdt het maken van John onsympathiek.
There was an element that we were trying to find, which I think we managed, which was this balance between a couple who were deeply in love, or loved each other, but were in a stage where they had fallen into a certain pattern of being. The way Max plays him is so likable that you're never in a situation where you're like, 'F that guy!' There are some films where they'll make the boyfriend or girlfriend unlikable, so you're like, 'Oh, definitely you have to leave!' It wasn't that, either. It was way more complicated than that.