Clayface (film)

Plot

After being nominated for an Academy Award, actor Matt Hagen attends a party with his childhood friend and fellow actor Corey Bowery. There, he meets actress Mia Torrez; despite Corey's warning that she is the girlfriend of crime lord Markos Szabo, Matt spends the night with her. The next morning, Szabo and his men ambush Matt and disfigure his face with a knife. Matt consults the police, but Szabo is not prosecuted due to a lack of evidence. Low on funds and blacklisted due to his disfigured appearance and false allegations about the prior events, Matt moves back to his childhood home in the Gotham City slums.

Matt learns about Caitlyn Corr, a doctor who is developing a nanite treatment that can rapidly heal damaged tissues and skin. Caitlyn is reluctant when Matt offers himself as a test subject, but her fiancée, detective John Borrelli, who is investigating Szabo, encourages her to help him. The treatment progresses well, and a seemingly fully recovered Matt makes his grand return to the public. When his face starts melting at a red carpet event, he returns to Caitlyn in a panic and, against her wishes, injects himself with a larger dose of the nanites, seemingly curing him.

Matt later discovers he can instantly heal from any injury, thrilling him but concerning Caitlyn. While flying home from visiting Corey, Matt learns from a news broadcast that his former manager, Frank Fitzpatrick, now works for Mia and Szabo. He briefly loses control of his abilities, but, with Caitlyn's guidance, discovers that he can alter his facial features and voice to impersonate anyone he chooses. Matt confronts Frank and learns that he betrayed Matt to hide his embezzlement of Matt's earnings, and that Corey helped ruin Matt's public image out of jealousy. Matt murders Frank, assuming his appearance to escape, before finding and killing Corey.

John begins suspecting Szabo for the murders; Szabo threatens him and Caitlyn in response. Caitlyn visits Matt, who professes he loves her; she hesitates to reciprocate due to her engagement to John. When one of Szabo's men tails Caitlyn, Matt catches and kills him, then sneaks into Szabo's club and massacres Szabo's gang before confronting him and Mia. Matt forces a portion of his body into Mia's throat, suffocating her. He then cuts his own face in a manner similar to how Szabo's men had disfigured him and allows his blood to drip onto Szabo's face; as his wounds regenerate, the acidity and weight of the chemicals in Matt's blood crush and dissolve Szabo's face, killing him.

With Szabo's empire destroyed, John visits Matt to confirm his whereabouts. Having deduced that Matt is behind the killings, Caitlyn returns home and explains everything to John. She then discovers the real John's body and realizes that she had been speaking to a disguised Matt. Matt claims that he is now sure of Caitlyn's mutual feelings for him and declares that they can finally be together before attempting to kiss her. A horrified Caitlyn attacks him with a taser before triggering the "kill switch" in his nanites, causing his body to melt and retreat into the sewers. She tells the police what happened, but they dismiss her after being unable to find any trace of Matt. Matt is declared missing by the public as Caitlyn abandons her research.

Caitlyn later gives a dollar to a homeless man, who is actually a still-alive Matt, living in the sewers of Gotham. He uses his clay flesh to create a replica of Caitlyn, then acts out a scenario in which the two apologize to each other and reconcile before sharing a kiss. As Matt mutates into a hulking form, he roars in rage.

Cast

Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen / Clayface: An actor who is transformed into a being made of clay after subjecting himself to an experimental treatment

Naomi Ackie as Dr. Caitlyn Corr: A fringe scientist who creates the treatment Matt undergoes and is his love interest

David Dencik as Markos Szabo: A mobster who disfigures Matt

Max Minghella as John Borrelli: A Gotham City police detective who is dating Caitlyn

Eddie Marsan as Frank Fitzpatrick: Matt's manager

Other cast members include Nancy Carroll as Hildie Love, Matt's agent; Joshua James as Corey Bowery, Matt's best friend and a fellow movie star; Wil Coban as Bones; Joana Ribeiro as Mia Torrez, Markos's lover; and Rob Brydon as Vic Chissler, a Gotham City talk show host. Aaron Paul makes a cameo appearance as Jimmy Hagen, Matt's abusive father.

Production

Development

In January 2021, filmmaker Mike Flanagan publicly expressed interest in making a standalone film focused on the DC Comics character Clayface. Being a fan of the character's depiction in the Batman: The Animated Series two-part episode "Feat of Clay" (1992), in which he was voiced by Ron Perlman, Flanagan wanted the project to be a horror film that was also a thriller and a tragedy. He previously discussed making a "horror-leaning" Clayface film for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise in a general meeting with DC Films producer Jon Berg. Flanagan felt the meeting "kind of went nowhere", and said DC did not "bite on" his idea, but he was ready to commit to the project at any time.

Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia—the owner of DC—merged in April 2022 to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment and Zaslav began searching for an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary. Writer/director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran were announced as the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the newly formed DC Studios at the end of October 2022. A week after starting their new roles, the pair had begun planning a new DC Universe (DCU) that would be a "soft reboot" of the DCEU. By the time they were hired, filmmaker Matt Reeves was meeting with directors and writers about multiple potential film and television spin-offs related to his standalone DC film The Batman (2022). These projects were in early development and centered on members of Batman's rogues gallery, such as Clayface. The Batman and its spin-offs were expected to be kept separate from the new DCU shared universe under the "DC Elseworlds" label.

In March 2023, Flanagan and his Intrepid Pictures partner Trevor Macy met with Gunn and Safran to pitch a Clayface film in which the character would not be portrayed as a villain like he is in the comics. At that time, the character was expected to appear in Reeves's The Batman: Part II (2028) but Flanagan did not pitch his project as being connected to Reeves's films. It was unclear at the time whether the film would be part of the DCU or the Elseworlds label if it moved forward. Flanagan said the report was "entirely speculative", and in May, he added that a Clayface film was not in development and he was participating in the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. In August, the film was reported to be in development with Flanagan as writer and director. Reeves, Gunn, and Safran were listed as producers. Clayface was introduced to the DCU in the first season of the animated series Creature Commandos (2024–25), the first DCU project to be released, with Alan Tudyk providing the character's voice after previously doing so for a different version of Clayface in the unrelated animated series Harley Quinn (2019–present).

DC Studios officially greenlit Clayface in December 2024, as part of the DCU. Gunn explained that he had not planned to make a film about Clayface, but was won over by Flanagan's pitch and subsequent script drafts. Filming was expected to begin in early 2025 and the studio was searching for a different director due to Flanagan's commitments to the 2027 film The Exorcist: Martyrs and the 2026 miniseries Carrie. Flanagan said he enjoyed developing the project with Reeves, and then with Gunn and Safran, and this was the first time in his career where he had to leave a project he was passionate about due to scheduling concerns. Several days after the greenlight was revealed, the studio scheduled the film for release on September 11, 2026. Gunn, Safran, and Reeves were confirmed to be producing alongside Lynn Harris of Reeves's company, 6th & Idaho Motion Picture Company. The film was intended to be produced on a "stripped down" budget of around $40 million; it was subsequently reported to have a budget around the $30 million range. Safran said the film would not have a campy tone and instead compared it to the horror film The Fly (1986).

Pre-production

DC Studios was eyeing J. A. Bayona to direct the film by the end of 2024. The studio was set to hear pitches from potential directors in the week of February 17, 2025, including James Watkins. Casting had begun by then, and the director was expected to be involved in that process once they were hired. Demián Rugna was also approached, but declined because he was not familiar with the character and was not interested in making a superhero film. Anthony D'Alessandro and Justin Kroll at Deadline Hollywood reported that Jeff Wadlow was also on the list of potential directors, but Aaron Couch and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter said Wadlow was never in the mix. They added that the film was considering potential production locations in North America, unlike other DC Studios films that were based in the United Kingdom, due to its lower budget. The film was described as a "Hollywood horror story" about the original incarnation of Clayface, and was expected to be set in both Hollywood and Gotham City. It was unclear whether filming would take place in Los Angeles following the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. Watkins entered negotiations to direct on February 21 after he gave a final presentation to Gunn the day before.

A few days after Watkins's selection was revealed, Gunn and Safran confirmed that he was in talks to direct, casting was underway, and the film would be part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate. They were aiming to start filming in the middle of 2025. Safran called it "an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have" in the DCU, and Gunn hoped it would work for horror fans who were not interested in DC, describing it as a body horror film. He said Tudyk would not reprise his role as Clayface, despite Gunn's intention to have the same actors portraying characters across different mediums, because the character was not Tudyk's "primary role" in the DCU; Tudyk primarily voiced Alex Sartorius / Doctor Phosphorus in Creature Commandos. Gunn also stated the film's events occurred before that of Superman (2025), and that its standalone story would also be "very connected" to the overarching DCU narrative. Safran later confirmed that it both took place before the first season of Creature Commandos (2024) and that both iterations of Clayface were the same character. Daniel Radcliffe, who starred in Watkin's 2012 film The Woman in Black, was reported by journalist Jeff Sneider later in February to be one of two actors eyed to portray Clayface in the film, but Gunn said Radcliffe was not being considered. The next month, Sneider reported that another writer had joined the film to perform a "significant pass" on Flanagan's script.

By April 2025, the start of filming was pushed to that October. Hossein Amini, who co-created the television series McMafia (2018) with Watkins, was revealed to be rewriting the script a month later. Watkins said Flanagan's earlier drafts featured "mythic things within the shape-shifting world of [Hagen]. Questions of our humanity — how we lose our humanity and what it means to be a monster." He added that the script significantly evolved from this once Amini joined. Flanagan confirmed that he was no longer involved and said he expected Watkins to "make it [his] own", but he hoped the film would remain true to the spirit of what he originally wanted it to be. Safran described Clayface as "lean[ing] into horror and psychological thriller in a way that definitely differentiates it from more traditional superhero entries, while still being anchored in what I would say is a recognizable character," with Harries adding, "It asks, How far would you go to reclaim your life that you've built?" Reeves likewise described the film as a grounded "tragic character journey wrapped in terrifying body horror". Tom Blyth, George MacKay, Jack O'Connell, and Leo Woodall were in the running and read for the title role in early June, but Gunn and Safran "weren't ready to pull the trigger" on any of those actors and decided to widen the search. Later that month, Gunn announced that relative newcomer Tom Rhys Harries had been cast as Clayface "after a long and incredibly exhaustive search", which Safran estimated saw "hundreds" of actors considered, but said they did not intend on casting a high-profile star and were rather focused on finding the best performer for the role. Harries informally met with Watkins after his initial audition to discuss the role before reading the script and screen testing. Safran said the producers were impressed by Harries's audition and screen test. Amini completed multiple drafts by then, and Gunn said the script was entirely Flanagan's story with minor changes being made to finalize the shooting script. The film was intended to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association. The character Matt Hagen, the second incarnation of Clayface in the comics, was expected to appear. Filming was set to take place at DC Studios' production hub at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England. By early July, filming had reportedly been moved up to start the following month.

In the week of July 14, reading sessions for the film's female lead were held in England. Naomi Ackie emerged as the top choice for the role and was set to enter formal talks the next week. Her casting as the scientist who creates Clayface was confirmed a month later, when Max Minghella was in final talks to join the cast as a Gotham City police detective who is dating Ackie's character. James Price was the production designer, after previously working with Watkins on his film Speak No Evil (2024), while Keith Madden was the costume designer. Watkins said he and Gunn wanted to give Gotham City's design "certain impressiveness and corruption to it and dirt to it" while being colorful to avoid feeling "murky". He specifically highlighted using tungsten lighting as "orange sodium vapor-type light that creates a real atmosphere". He added that while visual background references alluded to wider aspects of Batman's rogues gallery, they were primarily "little Easter eggs for those really in the know" that would not detract from the story. Watkins also chose to include visual references to previous horror films, such as The Fly for the evolution of Hagen's physical transformation, The Invisible Man (1933) and House of Wax (1953) for different facial coverings worn by Hagen, and Frankenstein (1931) for the initial scarring of Hagen's face.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 31, 2025, in Liverpool, England, under the working title Corinthians. Rob Hardy was the cinematographer, returning from the DCU film Supergirl (2026). Harries shot all of his scenes with a torn ACL. Filming was previously expected to start in the middle of 2025, and then in October. Location shooting in Liverpool, where scenes for The Batman were also shot, was taking place in the city centre. Gotham-themed vehicles were stored at the former Merseyside Police headquarters. Scenes on August 31 were filmed in Derby Square with the Law Courts building standing in for Gotham Hospital, while part of North John Street was made to look like the Gotham Docks, and the Liverpool Central Library doubled for Gotham City Crown Court. Eddie Marsan was revealed to be part of the cast. Additional filming locations in Liverpool included Pier Head and the old Birkenhead Tunnel. Filming also took place in the nearby town of Wallasey, including at the Seacombe Ferry Terminal. On September 11, filming took place on the Marine Promenade outside Adventureland in the suburb of New Brighton. A house on Tollemache Street was dressed as an American home for filming. Soundstage work took place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England. Filming wrapped on November 1.

Post-production

Jon Harris, a frequent collaborator of Watkins', is editing the film. Visual effects were provided by Framestore, while visual effects were supervised by Angus Bickerton. In January 2026, Gunn said Watkins was finalizing his director's cut and the producers would weigh in on it when it was done. The following month, Warner Bros. pushed back the film's release date to October 23, 2026. It was intended to serve as a Halloween event film similar to Halloween Kills (2021) and Black Phone 2 (2025). At that time, David Dencik was revealed to have a role in Clayface, after previously working with Watkins on McMafia. With the release of the teaser trailer in April 2026, Nancy Carroll, Joshua James, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear, and Wil Coban were revealed to be appearing in the film. By that July, Watkins stated the film's editing was finished. Leading up to the film's release, Gunn responded to criticism on why DC Studios decided to move forward with Clayface, explaining, "Sometimes someone — in this case initially Mike Flanagan and then James Watkins and Hossein Amini — were inspired by a relatively little known fictional character and crafted what I believe is a very special story around that character. I'd take that inspiration a thousand times over some writer trying to make a buck by writing a listless screenplay about a majorly popular character he or she has no passion or feel for." Safran called horror "one of the most reliable and popular genres with moviegoers", citing the success of fellow horror films Sinners, Obsession (both 2025), and Backrooms (2026). Aaron Paul appears in the film as Jimmy, the abusive father of Matt, and initially filmed extensive flashback scenes. However, the filmmakers ultimately cut most of this footage after shifting the narrative focus away from generational trauma toward a more universal theme of human retribution. As a result, Paul's role was reduced to a fleeting cameo appearance during a climactic club sequence, serving as a brief Easter egg in the final cut.

Music

By May 2026, Volker Bertelmann had already composed the film's score. The soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music on October 16, 2026.

Release

Clayface premiered at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles on October 13, 2026, and was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on October 23. It was originally scheduled for release on September 11, 2026, but was pushed back to the October date in February 2026 to take advantage of the Halloween period. It is part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.

Reception

Box office

Clayface was projected to gross $25–35 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, and $20–25 million internationally, for a worldwide opening of $45–55 million. It earned $3.5 million in the Thursday night previews.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 149 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Carving out a unique identity for itself in the DCU while closely resembling a litany of body horror classics, Clayface takes time to get going until it eventually morphs into an icky and satisfying revenge thriller." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.