Back in February, DC Studios enlisted Speak to Evil director James Watkins to helm Clayface. Given the filmmaker's horror background (if you haven't seen Eden Lake, make it a priority), all signs point to this potentially being one of the most messed-up comic book movies ever.
However, Jeff Sneider is reporting today that Mike Flanagan only wrote a "skeleton" script for the movie, and with his focus shifting to the upcoming Carrie TV series, Clayface is reportedly getting a "Page 1 rewrite."
Following up on his report on The Hot Mic, Sneider revealed that Sgt. Rock's budget was the reason for the movie's cancellation/postponement, not the "weather." It sounds like Luca Guadagnino initially had $70 million to play with, only for it to be reduced to $65 million (compromising the filmmaker's vision in the process).
It may have also been greenlit with Daniel Craig attached to star; when he pulled out, Guadagnino had to settle for The Penguin star Colin Farrell.
DC Studios is led by writer/director James Gunn and veteran movie producer Peter Safran. However, their inexperience as studio heads is beginning to show, and time is running out for them to have a DCU movie ready to hit theaters in late 2026/early 2027.
Despite Gunn's insistence that DC Studios is separate from Warner Bros. Pictures, he still has to answer to Warner Bros. Discovery bosses. During the podcast, Sneider strongly hinted that the DCU's future will be reevaluated after Superman's release this summer.
It seems there may be some frustration on Gunn's part as well, with HBO slow/reluctant to add superhero fare to the premium cable network. He may have even gone over Casey Bloys' head directly to David Zaslav to get Lanterns underway.
When the DCU was first announced at the start of 2023, an ambitious film and TV slate was announced; only a few of those have come to fruition as we write this, bringing back memories of the DCEU slate reveal in 2014 that ultimately meant very little.
Talking about Clayface earlier this year, Gunn said, "One of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the script is if we were producing movies five years ago, like when we were doing Belko Experiment and all of that stuff, and somebody had brought us this horror script called Clayface about this guy, we would have died to have produced this movie."
"Because it was just a really excellent body horror script. And the fact that it's in the DCU is just a plus," he added. "Then we have Clayface: pure [frick]ing horror. Like totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross. It's definitely R-rated."
Clayface is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on September 11, 2026.