As shooting continues on Clayface in Liverpool, these latest photos and videos from the set of the R-rated DCU movie appear to give us a first glimpse of Matt Hagen transforming into the titular Batman villain.
The brief clips show Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) running away from a red carpet premiere holding his face. Based on what we've learned from previous reports, Hagen will undergo surgery after his face is left disfigured by a mobster. Unfortunately, the procedure comes with some major side effects.
We also have some more photos featuring nods to The Joker, with one flyer displaying an ad for Amusement Mile. This area near the Gotham City docks is often used as a base of operations by the Clown Prince of Crime in the comics. There's also a poster for the "Penguin Man."
As you may recall, Oswald Cobblepott was reimagined as a carnival freak in Tim Burton's Batman Returns. We can't imagine this is anything other than a little Easter egg, but fans will no doubt appreciate the DC Comics nods all the same.
Clayface will also star Max Minghella (The Social Network, The Handmaid's Tale) as John, a Gotham City detective who becomes suspicious of his fiancé Caitlin's relationship with Matt Hagen. Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Mickey 17) plays Caitlin Bates, a biotech CEO who treats Matt after he's left disfigured by a mobster.
The story will reportedly "center on an ascending actor whose face is disfigured by a gangster. As a last resort, the actor turns to a fringe Elizabeth Holmes-style scientist for help. At first, the experiment is a successful but … well, it wouldn’t be a horror movie if the story ended right there, would it?"
Speak No Evil director James Watkins will helm the project, while James Gunn will produce alongside Peter Safran 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. Screenwriter Hossein Amini, best known for penning 2011’s Drive, was recently tapped to do some rewrites. The project has been given an official release date of September 11, 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.".