When James Gunn and Peter Safran dubbed their first section of DC Universe movies “Gods and Monsters,” many comedian e book followers had been questioning simply how monstrous these producers would get, contemplating that their first order of enterprise was a tough reboot of Warner Bros. Discovery’s steady of superheroes. Certainly, the dangers could be closely managed, as WBD chief David Zaslav wasn’t about to meddle in an space of filmmaking he didn’t perceive (like all of it). Why, he’d seem like a rattling idiot.
David Zaslav is at the moment on his method out at WBD, and, thus, will not be round to see Gunn and Safran introduce their first full-on monster when “Clayface” hits theaters on October 23, 2026. Whereas it is too early to invest as to the standard of the film, it does have a sizzling director on board in James Watkins (“Communicate No Evil”) and a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and 1998 Academy Award nominee Hossein Amini (“The Wings of the Dove”). Predictably, many style followers had been upset when Flanagan dropped out of helming “Clayface,” however teleportation expertise merely is not the place it must be to accommodate the prolific director’s schedule.
Talking of teleportation, the primary trailer for Watkins’ “Clayface” has dropped, and it appears to be like like he is delivered on the promise of a bloody R-rated horror film set in Gotham Metropolis. Feels like a stellar method to give hardcore comedian e book nerds the ultra-brutal Batman journey they’ve all the time needed, no? Neglect it. This isn’t a backdoor debut for the DCU’s Caped Crusader. As The Hollywood Reporter famous final yr, “Clayface” is an anti-superhero riff on David Cronenberg’s “The Fly.” Does this imply we’ll see Matt Hagen/Clayface (Tom Rhys Harries) actually fall tragically to items à la Seth Brundle post-teleportation mishap?
Clayface incorporates parts of The Fly, in addition to (probably) The Substance and Darkman
Flanagan was initially impressed by the “Batman: The Animated Collection” two-part episode “Feat of Clay.” However eradicating Batman from the narrative has allowed Flanagan and Amini to jot down a physique horror story about Hagen, a good-looking film star whose profession is derailed after he is disfigured by way of a botched medical process administered (perhaps?) by Bioengineering upstart Dr. Caitlin Bates (Naomi Ackie), who additionally occurs to be the actor’s love curiosity. As within the comics, the experiment offers Hagan shapeshifting powers. What he winds up doing with these biologically bestowed presents appears to be unhealthy information.
Cronenberg’s “The Fly” was very of its heartbreaking second, working as an AIDS allegory that examined human deterioration on probably the most intimate stage (it is principally a stage play). The skin-sloughing make-up results from Chris Walas had been onerous for a lot of viewers to abdomen, however the impeccably made movie was an enormous field workplace hit. I really like that the DCU braintrust is heading within the course, with a movie that sounds prefer it additionally incorporates parts of “The Substance” and “Darkman.” The filmmakers have been upfront about “Clayface,” so count on a Gotham Metropolis-bound revenge flick that drags the nonetheless younger DCU into the flesh-melting muck.
