We know that the DCU's Batman will not make his debut in Clayface (as far as we know, an actor has yet to be cast in the role), but that doesn't mean the Dark Knight's presence won't be felt in some capacity.
While speaking to SFX Magazine (via Screen Rant) during a recent interview, director James Watkins revealed that "the shadow of the Bat" will be present in this movie's corrupt, decaying take on Gotham City.
"We looked at a lot of 1980s and 1990s street photography. There was a documentary called Everybody Street, and I looked at a lot of the work of the photographers in it. It captures the bawdy glamor of New York, slightly edgy, slightly eccentric, slightly menacing, richly saturated colors."
"We want the world [of Gotham] to be corrupt," he added. "We want it to be a city where litter doesn't get picked up, where there's a sense of decay, where there's dirt, where the canyons of these places are overbearing. You're in a city called Gotham. So I guess you feel the shadow of the Bat inherently. Because of the nature of where you are."
Now, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has confirmed that, even though we don't see him or hear anyone mention him, the DCU's Caped Crusader is active during the events of Clayface.
"We haven't really talked about what he's doing during the actual events of Clayface," he tells Collider. "But Batman is there. This is the introduction to the live-action Gotham. We showed a silhouette of Batman in Creature Commandos, so you know he's around, but this is the first step into the world of Gotham for us."
Though Safran was only responding to a direct question, comments such as these tend to be very frustrating for fans. If this is Gotham City and Batman is doing his thing while Matt Hagen is embarking on his villainous journey, why not acknowledge as much in the movie? Nobody is expecting an appearance or even a major tease, but would a reference or nod to the vigilante keeping the city safe really be too much to ask?
Safran was also asked about the movie's level of gore and whether the MPA pushed back on any particularly gruesome scenes.
"They were not pretty cool with this," he said. "They were not. But there's nothing that we lost that we felt was detrimental. But I will say that James Watkins, in his directorial pitch to us when he was pitching to get the job, always leaned heavily into the realness of it. He wanted the scarring and the operations. He wanted everything to feel real."
"He had a lot of imagery that he brought with him for the pitch, and I'm telling you, Gunn and I were looking at the screen kind of through our fingers. It was really hard to look at, but it was exactly right. It felt so grounded. It felt so real. And I think when you're watching the movie, and you're seeing A., his face getting sliced up, and B., the doctors doing some of those early operations, like on the nose and cheek, it's horrific, but it really brings home the horror of what he has endured, and I guess, in many ways, creates even more empathy for the character and the journey that he's on."
Do you plan on seeing Clayface this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the Gotham City villain. Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition.
The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James. James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, story by Flanagan, based on characters from DC.
Clayface is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Rafi Crohn, Paul Ritchie, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars P. Winther executive producing.