Naomi Ackie was always destined for Gotham. The newest chapter of her career journey with the release of ‘Clayface’ is proof that she has always been on the right path to stardom.
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Jacket and Gloves: Assembly New York Suit: Saint Laurent Shirt: J.Crew Tie: Lansky Brothers Shoe: Christian Louboutin
Earlier this year, Ackie won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance in Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby. The honor joins a BAFTA she won in 2020 for Best Supporting Actress in The End of the F***ing World. This month, the DC Studios horror film Clayface premiered at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles with Ackie in a lead role. Four days later, she walked the red carpet at the 6th Annual Academy Museum Gala.
In conversation, she is quick and candid, and she laughs often even at her own expense. When asked why so many of her roles involve characters who want to become someone else, she kept the answer short but playful. “Oh god, because I’m just a weirdo,” she said, before breaking into a long laugh. The talented actor then joked about how those scripts reach her: “We’ve got this strange, disturbing script. Give it to Nay.”
Her answer is modest, but her body of work is impressive. She has moved from a Star Wars blockbuster to an Oscar winning director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) film Mickey17, and now Clayface. Her characters rarely resemble one another. Each project feels different from the last, and that variety is part of what makes her work so fun to watch.
Ackie is open to almost any kind of role, but she does have her limits. She will not make a film about demons. And any script with a Ouija board is also ruled out. “I don’t mess with that crap,” she said. “It’s a little too real.” Projects with cold water are the final exception.
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Jacket and Gloves: Assembly New York Suit: Saint Laurent Shirt: J.Crew Tie: Lansky Brothers Shoe: Christian Louboutin
In James Watkins’ Clayface, Ackie plays Dr. Caitlyn Corr opposite Tom Rhys Harries, who stars as Matt Hagen, a rising actor who loses his face. The film marks her entry into the DC Universe, and she came to it as a lifelong fan. “I grew up with DC,” Ackie explained. “I’m a huge fan of the comic book world, and DC has offered up so many incredible stories.” The first day on the Gotham set made it real. “It was so, so exciting,” she recalled. “We were all kind of bowled over by how it had all been created. It really felt like we were there.”
A full circle moment given her connection to Batman started well before this role. Years ago, she watched The Dark Knight Rises at a time when she needed to decide what to do with her life, and the film helped her make that decision. “I don’t know necessarily if film can change the world, but it can change an individual,” she said. “It can offer up an idea or a challenge that people then sit with.” After seeing it, Ackie quit all of her jobs. She gave her acting career one more year. During that period, she was cast in Star Wars.
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Headpiece, Necklace, and Bra: Laurel DeWitt Belt: Stylist Own Cuffs: Stylist Own Skirt: Salvatore Vignola
As for horror? Ackie avoided horror for a long time. As a kid, she was made to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street by someone she loosely calls a friend. “Way too young,” she said. “Not OK.” Jordan Peele’s Get Out changed that. “It offered up a different version of horror that I understood on a body level,” she said. “Still scary, but it was also funny. It was also like a puzzle.” She now watches new releases as well as older classics, and she calls horror sets “the funnest films to be a part of.”
In Clayface, her character is a gifted scientist. Ackie said that Caitlyn’s intelligence is the quality she likes most about her, although it also causes the character’s problems. “She’s extremely determined, extremely ambitious,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, but if it forces you to put your blinkers on so you can’t see what is morally right or wrong, it’s gonna be a problem.”
Caitlyn and Matt begin the story in similar positions. Both have been betrayed by their own people. According to Ackie, Caitlyn knows her value, but nobody listens to her, and that shared experience forms the basis of their connection. “At the heart of it, she wants to help, but there’s also a part of her that wants to prove herself,” Ackie said. The film gives Caitlyn context for her choices.
“It’s a really hardcore film,” Ackie said. “It does not hold back.” Hold back it does not. At the screening , everyone was squirming in their seats while several even covered their eyes during several scenes. Ackie was pleased to hear it. “You’re so uncomfortable, but it’s fun,” she said. “You can’t watch, but you love that you can’t watch it.”
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Headpiece, Necklace, and Bra: Laurel DeWitt Belt: Stylist Own Cuffs: Stylist Own Skirt: Salvatore Vignola
The mood off camera was much lighter. During one night shoot next to a fun fair, Ackie made what she calls a “spoiled actor” request and asked to ride the bumper cars. Production started the ride, and the cast drove around between takes. The scene was cut from the final film, but she still remembers that night. “People need the balance of jokes and joy,” she said.
Her favorite sequence is a nightclub scene, and she says audiences will recognize it as soon as it begins. It was shot on a soundstage over about a week. Ackie, who wears braids in the film, came in for a braid refresh and visited Harries and Watkins. The extras had spent days in heels, hearing the same song on repeat. She talks about the intensity of the scene but it will be very memorable for viewers.
Clayface follows a man who loses his face, which is also the main tool of his profession. Ackie views her own face and body in the same way. “I’ve always seen my face and my body as a tool to express and do my job, and also to express myself,” she said. Harries compared the loss to a carpenter who can no longer use his hands. Ackie added that people often define themselves by their work. She pointed to surnames such as Baker, which were once based on a person’s trade. “I’ve been doing this job for so long that without the ability to express, I would have to find another option,” she said. “But that journey would be quite painful.”
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Suit: Campillo Boots: Paul Andrew
The past few years she has been on a winning streak. She played Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance With Somebody a pivot point in her career. Lead opposite Channing Tatum in Zoe Kravitz directorial debut Blink Twice. Oh and of course we can’t forget about Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters. It wasn’t always like that though. Earlier in her career, Ackie lost a major Marvel film and a Game of Thrones opportunity in the same week. “I was in such a state,” she said. “You know how when babies cry too hard and they need to go for a drive? My dad had to take me on a drive.”
She is now grateful for that week. Had she taken those jobs, she believes she would have missed the range of work she has done since.”I’ve learnt since then to hold things lightly,” she said. “It does not shift your value in the world. I think when I was younger I thought the bigger the job or the more acclaim, it changed something within me, but it doesn’t do any of that.”
For Ackie, the real joy is going to work with good people and then going home to a normal life. “It’s a hard lesson, but it really helped to ground me,” she said. That outlook traces back to her late mother, who always told her to chase the craft. Ackie says the advice made the most sense during those difficult years, when she had to keep working without applause. “This job is so much about validation,” she said. “You need someone to tell you you’re not crazy. But seeking validation can sometimes blind you to the work that you’re doing.” She now asks what each job, or even each audition, can teach her. “And if you lose the joy, it’s OK,” she said. “You can rejig some things and try and find it from a different angle.”
Ackie is also a proud Harry Potter fan and before wrapping up we had to ask her what house she would be in. She is firm about her house. “I am a Slytherin,” she said. “I know people don’t believe me.” Dr. Caitlyn Corr, in her view, belongs in Ravenclaw.
Photo: Ty Chen; Styling: Jason Rembert Naomi Wears Suit: Campillo Boots: Paul Andrew
In the past she has mentioned that she is always looking for roles that scare her. She has spoken publicly about the last truly frightening role for her being Whitney Houston. When asked what scares her now, and what kind of role she’d like to touch that she hasn’t yet she responded saying a pure romance film. “Partially because I think they might be a little bit boring,” she said. Her second answer was more personal. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this,” she admitted. “I struggle with empathy with the characters I play most of the time.”
Ackie usually views her characters from an objective position. As mentioned earlier, many of her roles involve becoming someone else, yet she still wants a part in which she can lose herself in real vulnerability. “That’s something I’m still searching for,” she added . She believes that kind of role will come with time, since she could not have played some of her current characters three years ago. “The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is patience is key,” she said, “and the right things come to you at the right time when you need them.”
When the idea that life informs art came up at the end of the conversation, a phrase her mother used to say Ackie answered with one word: “Amen.”
Clayface opens in theaters October 23.
Talent: Naomi Ackie @naomiackie
Editor-in-Chief: OJ Williams @ojwilliams4
Photographer: Ty Chen @tychenphotography @tychenofficial
Stylist: Jason Rembert @jasonrembert
Creative Director: Ben Schmidt @equitiesmanager1
Deputy Editor: Elizabeth Taylor @liztaylorworld
Cover Story By: Sebastian Cintron @sebascintron
Makeup Artist: Daniel Martin @danielmartin
Hair Stylist: Marcia Hamilton @marciahamiltonhair
Videographer: Philíp Alexander @philipalxndr
Photographer’s Asst: Jordan Mitchell-Love @jmitchelllove
Photographer’s Asst: Celine Milien @celinemilien
Styling Asst: Wilton White @ww.ilt
Styling Asst: Jarrett Meilleur @mrjla
Production: Twelve29 Group @twelve29group
