Editorials
Learn About Production Design Through David Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ’
Something that I learned while doing set visits for BD is just how much I need to recognize and honor whomever is in the Production Designer role. The amount of work they put into ensuring we, the viewer, get a hopefully wonderful and immersive experience is unreal. From location scouting to ensuring the material used in building a set works with planned FX, their role is vital, no way around it.
When it comes to horror, one of the top names in the genre is David Cronenberg, whose films Scanners, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Crash, and more have filled us with fear, revulsion, arousal, and morbid fascination. He assaults the senses with each release, his ability to mix beauty with the gruesome an absolute marvel. But it couldn’t be done without the assistance of his long-time production designer Carol Spier.
Spier has worked on some of the best horror titles in recent memory, as well some that we simply adore, such as Silent Hill, Mimic, Blade II, Carrie, Pacific Rim, and more. Her work with Cronenberg reaches as far back as 1979’s sport drama Fast Company, for which she was the art director. Her work with Cronenberg has continued for over four decades, including the above mentioned films as well as Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, and, most relevant to this piece, 1999’s eXistenZ.
I bring this movie up because a fascinating documentary is available to watch below that goes into the making of the sci-fi/horror mindtrip that also focuses on the impact of Spier. For those who love the film, it’s a magnificent look into what it took to piece everything together. For those interested in how movies are made, this delves into the specific roles and functions that various people have and how they all interact with one another. Basically, this is something any aspiring filmmaker should watch.
eXistenZ follows marketing trainee Ted Pikul (Jude Law), who becomes an unintentional bodyguard for game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) after an attempted assassination. Fearing that her gamepod, which works by being plugged into a port in the user’s spine, may have been damaged, she needs Pikul to join her in playing her game to ensure everything is working fine. So begins the mind-bending journey into a film that distorts reality and never makes it clear whether the characters are in the game or in real life.
I love this movie. From Howard Shore’s grandiose score to the disgusting yet hypnotizing visuals, the story and characters are wonderfully realized and this film deserves every bit of love that comes its way. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend giving it a shot.
I was never against Sony’s initial idea to produce solo movies based on Spider-Man’s most memorable supervillains. After all, a hero is only as good as his Rogues’ Gallery is intimidating, so it stands to reason that there were plenty of dark stories to tell here.
While rushed productions like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped, it’s a relief to see James Gunn and the DC Extended Universe learn the right lessons from Marvel’s flops by investing in supervillain stories that aren’t afraid to step into the horror genre.
The new trailer for James Watkins’ upcoming Clayface movie is a great example of this, as the new footage confirms our suspicions that the movie is set to be a full-on piece of body horror focusing more on telling a standalone scary story than setting up a brand.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer in order to find out what we can expect from this highly anticipated comic-book adaptation from hell.
So without further ado, here are four things we learned from the new Clayface trailer!
4. Matt Hagen is a Club Vesuvius Regular
A seedy nightclub owned by “former” mobster Johnny Sabatino, the comic books have established Club Vesuvius as a hotspot for criminal activity and metahuman action since 2009. Throughout the years, the club has seen everything from an attempted arson by Firefly to magical acts performed by Zatanna herself.
The trailer for Clayface appears to suggest that Vesuvius will feature prominently in this story as well, as the footage shows us several shots of Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) casually attending the club as well as a couple of more concerning moments where Gotham City Police roll up to the establishment to deal with some kind of emergency.
3. The Movie Will Not Adapt Any Single Specific Comic
As I mentioned before in my Clayface primer for horror fans who aren’t all that familiar with the character, the initial teaser for the film had me convinced that the project would be more of an adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series’ two-part episode Feat of Clay rather than any specific comic-book.
This latest trailer has only confirmed my suspicions, with Hagen’s predicament here feeling much more in line with Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves’ sympathetic vision of the character than the more traditional criminal that we usually see in the comics. That being said, I’m curious to see how the filmmakers intend to connect this tragic version of Clayface to the more unpleasant monster we saw in Creature Commandos now that it’s been confirmed that these are indeed the same person.
2. James Watkins is Combining Practical and Digital Effects
I’ll always prefer a well-executed practical effect over CGI simply because the former is closer to the stage magic that inspired early moviemaking. That being said, there’s an undeniable artistry to well-crafted visual effects, and I’d argue that a character like Clayface requires the best of both worlds in order to be convincingly brought to life on the big screen.
I’m clearly not the only one who thinks so, as the trailer has shown us that Watkins is combining digital imagery with prosthetics and plenty of flesh-colored goop to depict Hagen’s unique brand of monstrous body horror. James Gunn had already promised us that the film would feature plenty of old-school practical effects wizardry, so it’s exciting to see that this approach in action.
1. Hagen Will Eventually Transform into Clayface’s Iconic True Form
In the comics, whenever Clayface isn’t pretending to be someone else, the character spends most of his time in his “natural” form resembling a gigantic golem-like monster. This look has certainly evolved over the years, but, at this point, most artists have settled on a vaguely humanoid shape accompanied by a gaping maw (though the villain’s terrifying re-imagining in DC’s Absolute Universe is a bit more complicated than that).
While fans were initially skeptical regarding whether or not the upcoming adaptation would even feature this admittedly outlandish design, the trailer has basically confirmed that Hagen’s condition will get progressively worse until he finally resembles the hulking monstrosity from the comics!
Be sure to comment below if you think we overlooked any interesting details in the trailer, and keep in mind that Clayface will be hitting theaters on October 23.
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