There are a variety of thrilling upcoming DC motion pictures, together with Superman, Supergirl: Lady Of Tomorrow and The Batman: Half II, however the title that I’m anticipating most of all on the DC Studios slate is Clayface. To be honest, this has been true for some time now, as I’m an enormous Mike Flanagan fan, and I’ve spent years interested in his imaginative and prescient for the shapeshifting Batman villain, however my excessive want to see the movie nearly peaked this previous week once I had the possibility to listen to DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran discuss in regards to the creating undertaking and reveal some key particulars.
This previous Friday, I used to be a part of a small group of journalists invited to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California for a presentation/dialog with the DC Studios executives, and of the various titles they mentioned, one which they clearly demonstrated quite a lot of ardour for was Clayface. Safran confirmed that conversations are on-going with director James Watkins (Communicate No Evil, The Lady In Black) to deliver Mike Flanagan’s script to life, and manufacturing will start this summer season prematurely of a fall 2026 launch – however what principally raised eyebrows within the room had been revelations in regards to the strategy.
James Gunn And Peter Safran Had been Clearly Blown Away By Mike Flanagan’s Clayface Script
It could sound a bit loopy that one of many first movies being produced as a part of the DC Universe places a highlight on a Batman villain who has by no means earlier than been featured in a live-action Batman blockbuster, however the velocity of the film’s progress might be seen as a direct reflection of its perceived potential. Gunn and Safran repeatedly famous that the DC Studios undertaking pipeline normally is decided by the person high quality of the scripts in improvement (cameras don’t begin rolling until there’s a well-polished screenplay), they usually love what they’ve with Clayface.
Each DC executives have roots within the horror style (Gunn’s credit together with Daybreak of the Lifeless and Slither, and Safran having produced all the motion pictures within the Conjuring universe), they usually defined that they’d have needed to develop Mike Flanagan’s Clayface script lengthy earlier than they obtained their present jobs. Stated Gunn,
One of many issues Peter and I talked about after we first obtained the script is that if we had been producing motion pictures 5 years in the past, like after we had been doing Belko Experiment and all of that stuff, and any individual had introduced us this horror script referred to as Clayface about this man, we’d have died to have produced this film. As a result of it was only a actually wonderful physique horror script. And the truth that it is within the DCU is only a plus.
Safran described the story within the movie as being “equally resonant, compelling, and in some ways extra terrifying” than the tales of The Penguin and the Joker, and highlighted the precise form of scares the movie will generate: prepare for some “unimaginable physique horror”!
James Gunn Guarantees Clayface Will Be R-Rated And Each “Psychological” And “Gross”
Following the immense success of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance in 2024, now appears to be a very nice time to be exploring the subgenre of physique horror, and that signifies that Clayface is seemingly coming collectively at an ideal time. The film will likely be firmly rooted in what’s being constructed for the DC Universe (it was particularly defined that it’s going to not connect with Matt Reeves’ The Batman trilogy), and it’ll evidently not be pulling punches by way of content material.
Whereas explaining how there isn’t a “home type” guiding the DC Universe and contrasting the completely different tasks which might be on the way in which within the coming years, James Gunn stated,
Then we’ve got Clayface: pure fucking horror. Like completely actual. Their model of that film, it’s so actual and true and psychological and physique horror and gross… It is undoubtedly R-rated.
We don’t at the moment understand how Mike Flanagan’s script for Clayface will both adapt the comics or invent a brand new strategy to the character, however the unique villain from the comics was created by Invoice Finger and Bob Kane and launched in June 1940’s Detective Comics #40. He was initially an actor-turned-crime lord, however later incarnations with completely different backstories noticed him reintroduced as a shapeshifting monster.
Flanagan received’t direct Clayface himself presumably as a result of he’s busy this 12 months taking the helm of the subsequent movie within the Exorcist franchise and creating his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Darkish Tower, however Peter Safran made it sound as if the take care of James Watkins is sort of achieved. Casting will begin as soon as the movie has its director, and we’ll hopefully be taught much more particulars in regards to the undertaking when actors signal on.
Keep tuned right here on CinemaBlend for extra about Clayface, which is scheduled to reach in theaters on September 11, 2026 (a couple of months after Supergirl: Lady Of Tomorrow, which is flying into theaters on June 26, 2026).