Aaron Paul’s Clayface Film Cameo Defined

Spoilers for “Clayface” comply with.

An odd factor occurs close to the tip of “Clayface,” the brand new DC Universe horror film concerning the Batman villain (learn our evaluate right here). Our protagonist, Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) infiltrates a nightclub run by the Gotham gangsters who disfigured him and ruined his life. Matt has undergone an experimental process utilizing AI-powered nanotech that repairs his face however additionally offers him shapeshifting skills. In an try to keep away from detection and trigger confusion, Matt strikes by means of the crowded membership and retains turning into totally different folks.

Within the midst of all of this, he out of the blue modifications into a man who certain seems to be a hell of lots like “Breaking Dangerous” star Aaron Paul. What’s extra, one of many gangsters acknowledges this new visage as Matt Hagen’s father. After roughly 5 seconds (perhaps much less, even), Matt transforms again into himself. The man who seems to be like Aaron Paul has no strains, nor does he seem once more.

“That actually seemed like Aaron Paul, however no manner they’d forged Aaron Paul in such a nothing function,” I instructed myself within the theater. However after I obtained residence from the screening I did some googling and discovered that at one level, Paul was certainly rumored to be a part of the “Clayface” forged. Whereas I assume it is solely attainable that the parents behind “Clayface” gave Aaron Paul a dialogue-free, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, I feel one thing else is occurring right here.

In “Clayface,” Matt Hagen is an enormous film star who grew up on the imply streets of Gotham. In an early scene within the movie, we’re instructed that Matt’s father was somewhat notorious and abusive — and was additionally well-known within the Gotham underworld, which explains why one of many gangsters acknowledges him throughout the membership transformation scene. However once more: why forged Aaron Paul as this character after which give him nothing to do? 

My guess is that there have to be a deleted scene or two that includes Paul as Matt’s father. To additional again principle this up, IMDb lists an actor named Seth Isaac Thomas as “Younger Matt Hagen” — however there are not any scenes within the last movie that includes Matt Hagen as a child. Maybe every time “Clayface” hits digital and Blu-ray we’ll lastly get a have a look at these alleged deleted scenes, and we’ll study if Aaron Paul really obtained to ship at the least one line of dialogue earlier than nearly all his footage ended up on the chopping room ground. Curiously sufficient, this is not Paul’s first run-in with the world of Batman: He was supplied, and turned down, a small function in Christopher Nolan’s Darkish Knight trilogy.