Mike Flanagan to Write ‘Clayface’ Movie for DC Studios

DC Studios (previously DC Films) is off to a good start with Max’s The Penguin, a spin-off of The Batman (2022). We will see the first DCU film in the summer of 2025 as James Gunn’s Superman will open in theaters on July 11th. There are other projects in development as well, and the most recently confirmed, as reported by Variety, centers on one of Batman’s most formidable foes: Clayface.

The script will be written by Mike Flanagan, who, in 2021, was asked via Twitter about taking on a DC film. The filmmaker replied, “Well I’ve wanted to do a Superman movie since I was a kid but I would also be really keen to do a standalone Clayface movie as a horror/thriller/tragedy.” It seems he will get his chance.

Flanagan, who wrote and directed Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and the feature films Hush, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep, will not direct Clayface. That name has yet to be announced.

Although it wasn’t on our Bingo card, Flanagan writing this comic book film is quite fitting. DC has always leaned towards darkness, and Clayface is no exception. The character was created in 1940 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. In his autobiography Batman & Me, Kane stated that Lon Chaney’s appearance in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) was the main influence.

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Over time, variations of the character have appeared, each with varying powers emphasizing shapeshifting. It would be interesting, though, to see Flanagan’s take on the original Golden Age version, Basil Karlo. Karlo was an actor who became a serial killer after losing a leading role in a horror movie. This tragic and horror-filled storyline is right up Flanagan’s alley.

According to Variety, DC Studios will begin filming the project next year. The Batman director Matt Reeves and Lynn Harris will produce under their 6th & Idaho Productions banner.