We had heard that he was the front-runner, and the trades have now confirmed that Speak No Evil director James Watkins will take the helm of DC Studios' solo Clayface movie.
According to THR, Watkins landed the gig after an extensive search, and met with DC co-CEO James Gunn on Thursday for a final presentation before officially being offered the project.
"Sources say the film is budgeted at $40 million and is a Hollywood horror tale centering on a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant, only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay."
Gunn will produce alongside Peter Dafran and The Batman director Matt Reeves, with Lynn Harris and Chantal Nong serving as executive producers.
Mike Flanagan penned the script, but was reportedly unavailable to direct due to his commitments to a Carrie TV series and the new Exorcist movie. The project has been given an official release date of September 11, 2026.
Based on previous comments from Gunn, the movie will be set in the DCU, as opposed to Reeves' "BatVerse."
"Exciting news out of [DC] Studios today as [Clayface], a DCU story from a script by Mike Flanagan, has been OFFICIALLY greenlit. Clayface premieres in 2026."
Safran shared a few new details on the Flanagan script, noting that Clayface is indeed going to be a full-on horror movie in the same vein as David Cronenberg's The Fly, and more recently, we learned that the movie will also take more than a little inspiration from Coralie Fargeat's body horror hit, The Substance.
"Clayface, you see, is a Hollywood horror story, according to our sources, using the most popular incarnation of the villain – a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay.".
Clayface is looking to shoot in a variety of locales, including Vancouver, Toronto, and New Jersey or Atlanta.
No word on casting just yet (that recent James McAvoy rumor proved to be false), but Alan Tudyk recently provided the voice of Clayface in James Gunn's animated Creature Commandos series, meaning there's a chance he could also play the character in live-action at some point.
What do you make of this news? Do you have any interest in a solo Clayface DCU film? Drop us a comment down below.