Late last year, the trades confirmed that DC Studios is moving forward with a solo Clayface movie, with The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan on board to pen the script.
The search is currently on for a director, since Flanagan is unavailable 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 comments from James Gunn, the movie will be set in the DCU, as opposed to The Batman director Matt 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."
DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran recently 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. THR has now provided some intriguing updates, and it sounds like the movie is also going to 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."
As for which director could wind up at the helm, THR disputes Deadline's recent report that Jeff Wadlow was ever considered, but confirms that James Watkins is in the mix. The trade also believes that J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Society of the Snow) met with the studio over the Christmas break, but it's not clear if he's still in contention for the gig.
Clayface has a reported budget of $40 million, and is looking to shoot in a variety of locales, including Vancouver, Toronto, and New Jersey or Atlanta.
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 these updates? Do you have any interest in a solo Clayface DCU film, or would you prefer to see these type of villain-focused projects after we've already met our new Batman in The Brave and The Bold? Drop us a comment down below.