On October 23rd 2026 a new DC film set in the Batman universe was released. Called ‘Clayface’ it’s the origin story of a villain known to some through comics and animated series. The first trailer for it came out in August and it looked like it was going to rather graphic and violent. Not usually the sort of film I’d run to see but I made sure I was at the cinema for the opening weekend, because I’m in it…sort of! I’ve been sitting on this blog for over a year now, non-disclosure agreements and all that, waiting for the film to be released so I can tell you how I was an extra in some of the scenes shot in Liverpool back in 2025. Beware, spoilers ahead if you’ve not yet seen it!
For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to be a film extra or ‘supporting artist’ as they’re more professionally known. My brother did it for a very short while many years ago, his feet may have appeared in an episode of ‘Prime Suspect’ and he was a dot in a crowd in a Manchester Airport commercial. I always hoped for something slightly more exciting, but knew I would be happy with just one day on any set.
A few years ago I signed up with a few extras’ agencies, I got some invites but when I said I was available I was never selected. I got even less offers when I was working full time – there’s not much filming that happens at weekends.
I’d been with Universal Extras since August 2024 – having paid £25 for the privilege. I got regular texts about jobs and when I replied that I was available I never got picked. I found it interesting though knowing where and when particular projects might be filming. A year later, in August 2025, I got an email saying that because I’d not been booked and used in anything for less than 10 days (actually zero for me!) I’d be kept on their books for another 12 months for free. As it turned out the timing couldn’t have been better as a temporary job I had was coming to an end, and I was looking at a few months of unemployment while I considered my next step.
I started getting text notifications about something called ‘Corinthian’. On the 13th August I received one saying they needed people for filming on 31/08/2025, 01/09/2025, 08/09/2025 and 16/09/2025 in Liverpool. Given that my current employment would end on the 29th August this couldn’t have been a better opportunity.
I responded saying I was available on all those dates and I uploaded a fresh set of pictures to the agency’s online portal. I don’t know if that helped but I got booked! I got a text on the 21st August asking me to confirm my availability and that call details would be sent the day before filming by 7pm. I remember asking my husband to check the text message for me and confirm that it meant what I thought it said. I was very excited to have finally been chosen.
I would later get another message asking me to supply some more photographs – two of me wearing options for a ‘smart / business’ outfit and two photos of ‘passerby / casual’ outfits with a deadline of 12pm on the 26th August. I had to make a special charity shop hunt for a smart blazer, but the rest I had at home. I added the pictures to the app that morning. Then, at just before 12pm, I re-read the message and realised it had said to email – so I very quickly sent them at 11.59pm – followed up shortly afterwards with an email saying sorry!
As promised, at about 3pm the day before filming, I got an email and message on the agencies platform. It gave a start time of 7am and a location to go to in Liverpool city centre – which was St John’s Market, just a short walk from Liverpool Lime Street station. I’d have to get public transport, so it meant an early wake up call to get the bus there in time – my alarm was set for 4.40am!
Now, I’d been sent a job sheet from the agency on the 21st August that didn’t say much about the production, other than the part was ‘courthouse passerby’ and the name was ‘Corinthian’ and that the company was ‘DC Studios’.
DC Studios was very familiar – they produced ‘The Batman’ which had also used Liverpool city centre a few years earlier (I wrote about it here https://fromscenetoseen.blog/2020/11/05/a-day-out-in-gotham-city/ ). I had a little look on the internet about their forthcoming projects, but it was not clear from the code name what it could be it.
Filming preparations started a few days before my appearance and as soon Gotham City police cars were spotted being transported into the city it became clear that this would be the ‘Clayface’ film. Further confirmation came when filming started on the 31st August as Gotham City signage appeared at Liverpool’s law courts – which were doubling as a hospital. Unsurprisingly, the arrival of another big budget film production drew the attention of local media Hollywood movie filming underway in Liverpool City Centre – Explore Liverpool & ‘Hollywood of the North’ given new show of faith by filming of DC Studios blockbuster – Liverpool Echo
There was no doubt that Liverpool would be doubling for Gotham City again. It looked like I may have got the geek jackpot on my first job!
I was asked to digitally sign an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) which I promptly did and wondered how strict they would be about secrecy. Would they would take my phone off me on the day? As it turned out really shouldn’t have worried!
I arrived in Liverpool city centre by bus about 6.30pm and could immediately see a whole load of Panasonic film trucks parked on St George’s Hall plateau. Following the brightly coloured location signs I walked over to the ‘Crowd Base’ in the disused St John’s Market. I reported to a row of check-in desks where people had lists of all the supporting artists for that day. There were different lists depending on the agency that booked you.
We were told to wait in the old food hall of St John’s Market, which had plenty of chairs and tables, and I was happy to discover that we could get a free hot breakfast and drinks. I grabbed myself a plate of sausage, beans and hashbrowns! The waiting area started to fill up with people, some of whom seemed to know each other from other jobs.
The official start time was 7am and shortly after that a man came and explained to us what was going to be happening that day. He also introduced a couple of other people who’d be in charge of us. I didn’t get any names but I’m presuming they were 3rd ADs (Assistant Directors) who are responsible for getting supporting artists to where they should be on time. The man explained the outline of the film and the scenes we would be involved in. I was surprised that he essentially gave the us the plot of the film. Our leading man, Tom Rhys Harries, is a very successful Oscar nominated actor called Matt Hagen who goes out celebrating, he meets a woman who he sleeps with, the next day he discovers she’s the girlfriend of a very bad mafia boss type who gets his revenge by cutting Matt’s face up (they’d shot the arriving at hospital scenes in the Queen Elizabeth II law courts building previous day). His career is immediately over. He can’t bring criminal charges for some reason so puts in a civil case. The first scene that we would be filming involved Matt going into court and being hounded by the media. Another scene being filmed later would have the Mob boss being arrested and then released without charge. The man went on to explain that the character would seek out alternative, untested methods of fixing his face – which ultimately results in him becoming Clayface.
After that introduction there was about an hour that consisted of us all being told to stand, line up and then sit down again in various groups. I have great admiration for all the planning that’s involved in getting a film made, there are so many different elements – and that’s before you throw a hundred random people into the mix!
In the first line up we were asked who’d had a costume fitting. There was some confusion as to whether this included the digital fitting, also some people who’d submitted pictures hadn’t had a reply confirming what to bring. It all got sorted eventually and the lines were finally organised. As we stood against a wall the wardrobe team walked along and eyed up what we were all wearing and how we looked, assessing what worked or needed tweaking.
I was given the once over and then passed a slip of paper with ‘Hair’ to take with me into the next stage. I didn’t need to go to makeup – what I’d been able to apply sleepily at 5am was obviously deemed enough. Some of the men got asked if they’d shave (they would receive extra pay for their troubles). At least two supporting artists would have fake moustaches applied to make them look different as they’d already filmed on a previous day.
I’d been asked to wear the outfit I’d submitted a picture of – denim jacket, small black bag, blue dress, leggings and Doc Martens boots. I was told to bring a coat along too and when I went to put it on the costume lady said to wear that instead of the denim – it’s an olive-green long coat with a large hood (I’d bought it with me because I thought it looked ‘Star Wars Andor rebel’ish).
At around 9am I was sent to get my hair done and while I waited I had a ‘mug shot’ photo taken with me holding a sheet of paper with my name on, date and ‘character’ which was just ‘passerby’. The hairdresser did my hair pretty much how I’d do it for work – tied back with a claw clip but far more hairspray. I did like that the troop of hair and makeup ladies (and one chap) followed us around all day and tweaked us when needed – this would be so useful in day-to-day life!
The production team had taken up all of the empty retail area that was St John’s Market, a large part was for costume – another for hair and makeup. Someone in production had a lovely little black dog that was running around, which I spotted when I went to find the bathroom.
I was asked to pose for a second ‘mugshot’ and had my name taken as we lined up for one final time before being shipped out. At about 10am, despite it probably being quicker to walk, we were loaded onto a fleet of small white minibuses taking us to the World Museum. I discovered later that we got additional pay for being transported.
I would guess that there were a hundred or so supporting artists. From appearance I thought most were ‘passerbys’ but there were also several smartly dressed ‘lawyers’, ‘press / news reporters’ and ‘camera operators’, with about six people in Gotham City Police Department costumes.
We were dropped off close by the World Museum and had to walk around an area blocked off for filming and then through the gardens behind St George’s Hall. I could see lots of people lined up along the wall at the edge of the gardens trying to see what was going on. I felt a bit of a thrill being escorted past them and through the barriers, this was a new experience for me.
The World Museum would be the base for cast and crew during the filming of the scenes outside, the building being conveniently closed on Mondays. Next to the museum is Liverpool Central Library, which was still open to the public. The museum has an original grand Victorian entrance that is no longer used by the public – stone steps lead up to a handsome columned portico – I could see that it had been decorated to look like a courthouse with signs and flags at the top of the steps. A rain machine had been set up, along with a few Gotham police cars and motorcycles at the base of the steps. There were several gazebos for crew and camera equipment on the opposite side, blocking some of the public’s view, but not very well.
We were marched through to the museum café, which was quite large and a very practical space to hold us all. I saw that there were signs to the Green Room, which would be used by the main cast, so I kept my eyes open. I think I did see the lead Tom Rhys Harries come in and out a few times, but he always had an assistant with him that was very carefully walking between him and us waiting SAs and seemed to deliberately block a clear view of his face.
Now the wait began. I’d heard the expression ‘hurry up and wait’ before in reference to being a supporting artist, but this would be the first time experiencing it first-hand. It’s amazing how something so exciting can get rather boring after a few hours. I got some tea and coffee and tried to make conversation with my fellow SAs. People were nice, some were veterans, some new like me. One woman I spoke to was a camera operator as her main job and was quite happy to be at the back and get paid to watch the chaos around her.
The 3rd ADs valiantly tried to get us seated in our ‘character’ groups, but some people would wander off. I saw the ‘press’ group get given cameras and briefly shown how to use them. A few people disappeared to do a small scene but the rest of us just waited…
At 12.45, just as we had started to get excited about lunch being delivered, we were all asked to go outside – it was time for the main scene. As it was raining we were told to go to the top of the steps to shelter under the cover of the ‘courthouse’. All of us huddled together – some took pictures and I wondered if that was allowed and would they get in trouble? I didn’t want to risk it, even though it was tempting. I did get brave and take a few sneaky ones, but then immediately deleted them in case someone checked my phone (I knew I could retrieve them later). I didn’t know who might be looking, but the whole thing turned out to be so chaotic that no-one seemed to take any notice. I don’t think it’s always like that on set, but as this was my first time I didn’t want to mess up.
The scene: the main character comes out of a car in front of the courthouse to be greeted by a shouting mob of press, photographers and bystanders gawking. There’s shouting to ask him to show his face (he’s wearing a hood) as he walks up the steps escorted by a woman with a dark bob haircut. They’d set up Gotham City barriers in front of the steps. There was a camera on a track going up the steps on one side and then another camera on a moving arm. We would repeatedly do the same shot for a couple of hours.
I was first positioned near the Gotham Police motorbikes by the library entrance – on action I had to hurry towards to crowd to see what was going on. They heckled and shouted – on the first take everyone stopped when the actors had reached the top of the steps – but we were told to keep going until told to stop. It was a learning process.
Then some of us were repositioned and I was moved to a new starting position a bit further away – we did two or three more takes, then I was moved even further away again, and ended up practically at the Walker Art Gallery! This meant I couldn’t quite see the main crowd and had to keep an ear out for the cue. Two other women, along with myself, were positioned right on the periphery of the action. I was nearly too convincing in my ‘passerby’ persona as I got challenged twice by production crew! No, I’m really meant to be here!
Between takes they allowed the public to go in and out of the library whose entrance was being blocked by the filming. Naturally curious, people would look and take pictures, some needed moving on if they lingered too long. One kid was pushed in front of the Gotham police car to get a photo by his mum.
I had plenty of time to appreciate the set dressing. Pieces of soggy cardboard had been dotted around on the steps, and there were a couple of what appeared to be homeless tents near the bottom. I saw metal crowd barriers that were part of the set being painted with a brown solution applied by a roller to make them look dirty and used. A fire hydrant had been added to the pavement, which looked authentic until you tapped it and realised it was plastic. There was a large blue screen by the library entrance, which I’m not sure if it was supposed to be hiding anything.
The natural rain caused problems when it stopped, and the sun started to dry the pavement. They had to keep the pavement wet using a fire hose and at one point a pickup truck with a water tank on the back drove round spraying the ground. There were a few crew people dotted around the set, out of shot creating a dry ice smoke effect. Close to my position I could watch a member of the crew holding a canister of dry ice, which she would set off and waft the smoke with a board in the general direction of the action. There was another man helping direct the smoke with a leaf blower, which he would turn off each take. The smoke seemed to dissipate rather quickly, so I wasn’t quite sure it was worth the effort.
My husband messaged me at one point, as he’d been keeping an eye on social media and sent me a picture of the filming going on he’d found with people at the bottom of the steps – I told him I was one of those people!
Shortly after he sent me a link to something on Twitter/X that was a clip of the filming happening – he’d spotted me! We were still doing the same scene! It’s amazing how quickly everything is online. The filming was pretty much being live streamed to the world!
This video by youtuber Kev Cupo below is great, as it captures what was happening on the day – I can be seen striding purposely into shot from the right at 11.46!
The scene was being repeated over and over again, with some pauses for setting up, of slightly different takes. They expanded the shot to include the black car driving up to the steps rather than just being parked up. They did that a couple of times with the car coming in from slightly further each time. Then they did a drone shot to get an aerial view of the scene (but didn’t seem to ‘wet down’ the ground for it).
Hunger started to creep in as it got to 3pm and there were no signs of stopping for lunch. I heard someone mention ‘continuous day’ which turns out to mean working through without stopping (again a bit of extra pay apparently). A 3rd AD brought out a tray of egg mayonnaise rolls, which myself and another woman didn’t really fancy despite our hunger, thankfully she came back with a fist sized pot of pasta about 3.30pm and we devoured them where we stood during a pause in filming.
It got a little tiring hurrying to the scene and then having to walk back to ‘reset’. At one point they took down the large greenscreen by the library entrance that we had to pass – we even had to avoid the guys dismantling it – I assumed from that we wouldn’t be in any of those shots.
At one point the heavens opened again, and we had to take shelter from the rain under some trees while others retreated back to the top of the step. We finally got called to return to the museum but when we got there we had to wait outside to let some of the main cast leave who must have been in the Green Room. There was a woman in a gangsters moll type outfit, some smartly dressed men and the actor Eddie Marsan.
I was desperate for a drink at this point having not had anything since were called outside. I had to ask a few crew members to see if they could get us some cups to use at the water stations. This was about 4.30pm. It then got a little chaotic as we were told to go straight into the museum waiting area just to grab some more food and eat on the move as there were minibuses waiting for is to get us to the second location. I managed to get a tofu and veg rice pot – still warm thankfully and a little dessert.
We arrived at the second filming location by the Pier Head about 5pm. It turns out not all of us made it – some had either missed the buses or had been told they weren’t needed and been released early; communication was a little confusing!
The second location was the handsome art deco St George’s Dock building which had been dressed up as a Gotham Police station. I was familiar with the building as it’s the starting point of the really interesting Mersey Tunnel Tour Mersey Tunnel Tours | Merseytravel
Again, there was a lot of the public watching on, and I felt quite chuffed to be escorted past everyone and onto the set. The street by the entrance to what was now Gotham City police precinct building had several American cars and police vehicles parked up. There was also a very large rain making rig set up, it was looking like it was going to be a rain soaked scene.
It seemed they were filming ‘Mob guy being arrested and taken into the station’ from what the man had told us that morning. I could see the female lead, actress Naomi Ackie, who seemed to be escorting someone into the station on multiple takes (at the time I didn’t know what her role was). I was not one of the SAs that were picked at first for use in the scene. Those that had been chosen were positioned on the street, some standing, some to be walking by, one man was making a call in phone box. There was a couple of ‘press / camera’ people doing an interview with someone with the police station in the background.
They ran the scene without the cast a few times to get the camera movement correct – it was being suspended on a large rig. Then for the action shots the rain machine overhead was turned on with more jets of water from poles carried by a few crew people. Also a large firehose was being wrangled by the crew. At that point I was greatly relieved to not be in the scene as it was very, very, wet! Film rain needs to be much heavier than natural rain to be seen on camera. When they finished, I saw a some very soggy SAs – even those that had been given umbrellas to use in the scene were wet.
Once that scene had been completed they then did a quick second scene with the ‘mob guy’ being freed without charge – this time on a dry day! I was put on set with another SA and positioned on the pavement and told to walk slowly away from the action on the other side of the road. I loved the whole atmosphere of being on the set – there was a big GCPD logo on a door and police shield – I did take a sneaky video as I put my phone back into my bag, from which I took the screenshot below.
I was envious of the SAs dressed as Gotham police – those costumes looked the business. I asked a woman at the end of filming how she had felt wearing costume with a baton and gun on her belt. She said she smelt of cow from the leather jacket! She took her gun out of the holster to show me that it was missing the front portion so it wouldn’t get mistaken for real firearm.
We were all getting very tired as the day went on, the young man I’d been put with for the scene was moaning about the long day, but despite my tiredness I didn’t agree with him – the Friday before I was in an grim office with bars on the window, today I was on a film set – a Gotham City film set! That was cool, even if I didn’t appear in the actual film, at least I can say I was there!
We heard that there was going to be some stills taken of the actors in the scene but that we weren’t needed so we finished about 6.30pm and got bused back to crowd base, collected our bags and signed out. I got home about 8pm, very tired but very pleased to have spent a day working on a film set. That evening I got to read all about the filming in the Liverpool Echo World Museum transformed into Gotham Courthouse for major Hollywood film – Liverpool Echo
I would get paid a few weeks later for the day. The standard daily rate for the job was £109.89 and onto that was added the overtime, travel between base and location, broken meal and few other bits. After tax it wasn’t a huge amount for nearly twelve hours work but it was a memorable experience I’d have happily done for free.
Would I do it again? Yes. Would I take snacks? Yes. Was I glad I was in a comfortable outfit and shoes? Yes. Things I learnt – always go to the loo when you can and always listen to instructions. Don’t take being shouted at personally – there’s a lot of stressed crew people trying to do the impossible! Be prepared for a very long day.
‘Clayface’ was released on the 23rd October and my husband and I went to see the film on its opening weekend. Now the big question is did I make the final cut and appear on screen? I think I may have! I really wasn’t expecting to but the two scenes I was involved with did appear in the film, and I know were I was during them and I think I’m in the shots. I don’t think I’m very clear in the courtroom one and it’s the back of my head in the police station scene – my own mother wouldn’t stand a chance recognising me – but I know it’s me. I’ll have to wait until I can see it again when it’s on streaming and I’ll be able to pause and check.
Something that I find interesting is that there were shots in the trailer that didn’t appear in the final film. There was an overhead shot of the walking up the steps to the courthouse scene which looked like the steps and the crowd had been expanded digitally. The scene I watched being filmed with Naomi Ackie walking into the police station wasn’t used at all. I have a suspicion that there were may be a few other things that were filmed that weren’t included.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes, very much. I thought Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie performances were brilliant and gave it a solid grounding when the fantastical elements escalated. I’m also happy to confess that I am a little squeamish when it comes to body horror and I did close my eyes at quite a few scenes, it really earned it’s 18 certificate! The scene on the plane with the scissors and the turbulence was so simple but horrifying!
