DC StudiosΒ recently enlisted Speak to Evil director James Watkins to helm Clayface. Given the filmmaker's horror background (if you've not seen Eden Lake, make sure to track it down), all signs point to this being one of the most messed up comic book movies ever.Β
The DCU-set project will begin shooting later this year and we now have our first casting rumour. According to The InSneider, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is one of two actors currently being eyed for the role of Basil Karlo, a.k.a. Clayface.Β
Radcliffe previously worked with Watkins onΒ The Woman in Black. The actor has made a big effort to shake off the shadow of the Boy Who LivedΒ in recent years, taking on vastly different, typically well-received roles in movies likeΒ Weird: The Al Yankovic Story andΒ The Lost City.Β
We'll see what happens, though rumours claiming James McAvoy was being lined up to play Clayface have since been debunked.Β
Talking toΒ Cinema BlendΒ about Clayface last week, DC Studios co-CEO James 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 continued. "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."
That rating isn't overly surprising as DC Studios is expected to deliver a mix ofΒ PG-13 and R-Rated movies set in the DCU. Whether thisΒ decreases the odds of Batman making an appearance remains to be seen.
The first iteration of Clayface debuted in the 1940s, mere months after The Joker first menaced Batman. At the time,Β Basil Karlo was little more than a deranged B-List actor andΒ killer who dressed up as the sinister "Clayface" character he'd played in the past.Β
Furious he'd been recast in the monstrousΒ role, Karlo went on a killing spree that saw him target the cast of the film made without him.Β Karlo eventually gained shape-shifting abilities, but Matt Hagen,Β an adventurer who turned into a monsterΒ after encountering a radioactive pool of protoplasm, is perhaps the most popular version of the villain thanksΒ toΒ Batman: The Animated Series.
In the show, heΒ was portrayed asΒ an actor who used an anti-ageing cream to look younger. After getting on the wrong side of its creator,Β Roland Daggett, Hagen is doused in a vat of the stuff and transforms into a monster. The third Clayface wasΒ Preston Payne, withΒ Sondra Fuller, Cassius Payne,Β Peter Malley,Β Todd Russell, andΒ Johnny Williams all following.Β
ClayfaceΒ arrives in theaters on September 11, 2026.Β