The DCU’s Clayface movie is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing—and most like a new horror movie—projects in James Gunn’s new slate of DC movies. Even though Mike Flanagan is no longer directing the film, his early vision helped define its direction. And now, thanks to new comments from the filmmaker, we know exactly what shaped his approach to Gotham and its most tragic shapeshifter.
During a recent appearance at ScreenRant’s Midnight Mass panel with Kate Siegel at Motor City Comic Con 2025, Flanagan opened up about where his version of Clayface began—and how it differs from what Matt Reeves is doing with his The Batman Part II and its extended world. According to Flanagan, his inspiration wasn’t drawn from Reeves’ universe at all, mostly because he hadn’t seen what that team was working on when he first started shaping the story for DC Studios. He explained:
No, when we first started talking about Clayface, I hadn’t seen what Matt [Reeves] was up to. So it went all the way back to ‘Feat of Clay’, that incredible two-parter with Ron Perlman voicing the character, which was so formative for me as a kid.
And even though Flanagan worked closely with Matt Reeves before the project transitioned fully into the DCU, timing ultimately forced him to hand the reins to another filmmaker. He told the crowd he loved developing the film with Reeves and then with James Gunn and Peter Safran, but when production ramped up, he simply couldn’t make the dates work.
He explained that he was already committed to another project and, despite wanting to stay on, had to make the difficult call to step back and let the film proceed without him. It’s clear the choice still stings.
The standalone Clayface film has since wrapped production under director James Watkins, with Tom Rhys Harries playing Matt Hagen. Flanagan hasn’t seen a frame yet—but he’s eager. The Doctor Sleep filmmaker added:
I haven’t seen it. They just wrapped, I’m dying to see it. I can’t wait to see what they did with it. But for me, it all goes back to the animated series. Batman: The Animated Series is art.
If the finished movie holds onto even a fraction of that influence, fans could be getting the most faithful—and most horrifying—Clayface ever put to screen. It also marks a major first: this will be the DCU’s first R-rated theatrical release, a sign Gunn is serious about genre flexibility in this reboot.
This also won’t tie into Robert Pattinson’s Elseworlds Batman. A new Bruce Wayne will eventually anchor Gunn’s connected universe via The Brave and the Bold, which is still in the script stage. But Clayface hitting theaters first means the DCU’s Gotham will debut through its monsters before its masked vigilante.
With production wrapped and the release date set, Clayface is officially on the 2026 movie schedule for September 11, 2026. If the film truly channels the haunting beauty of “Feat of Clay,” it could deliver one of the DCU’s most compelling villains yet — and as a lifelong DC fan, especially of Batman: The Animated Series, which I just rewatched, I genuinely cannot wait.