DC’s Clayface Movie Just Found Its Lead
Mike Flanagan’s DC story gets a promising update.
For all the plans DC Studios has set into motion this year, we’ve been hearing the most about Clayface. The film, which will serve as an origin story to one of Batman’s oldest villains, came together in a hurry. According to DC’s creative co-chairs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, there were no plans to make a Clayface movie until a script by Mike Flanagan landed on their desks. From there, it’s been full speed ahead: while Matt Reeves’ The Batman II languishes in pre-production and Gunn and Safran labor to develop other projects, Clayface is set to shoot this summer and premiere next September.
To say nothing of the film’s confusing place in the DC Universe (is it part of Gunn’s DCU, or Matt Reeves’ Epic Crime Saga?), it’s comforting to know that Gunn and Safran believe in this project. The last update about Clayface involved reports of rewrites, leading some to worry that Flanagan’s script would be stripped of everything that made it interesting. Fortunately, Gunn recently took to Threads to assure fans that nothing major would change. “Any changes as the shooting script is finalized are minor,” he explained. “It’s all Mike’s story. That’s why we’re making this movie, because we loved it.”
With that misunderstanding more or less ironed out, Gunn pivoted to another major announcement. DC has found the actor who will portray the struggling B-list actor who turns into a shapeshifting monster in Clayface and beyond.
“After a long and incredibly exhaustive search, we finally have our DCU Clayface in Tom Rhys Harries,” Gunn announced in another Threads post. “Both Matt Reeves and I were just blown away by this guy, and can't wait for you to see this film, directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan.”
Tom Rhys Harries is the DCU’s Clayface.
Harris is a Welsh actor, relatively unknown in the U.S. — though he recently appeared in the latest season of Doctor Who, and on the big screen in Ralph Fiennes’ The Return. His casting brings DC’s extensive search to a close, beating out established stars like Sinners’ Jack O’Connell, 1917 star George MacKay, and Hunger Games alum Tom Blythe.
Speak No Evil director James Watkins will helm Clayface, but it’s still not clear which origin story Flanagan used in his script. Again, Clayface is one of the oldest Batman villains, which means his story has been remixed and retconned on a few occasions. Flanagan told ComicBook that he took inspiration from “Feat of Clay,” a two-part story from Batman: The Animated Series, in crafting his adaptation. That storyline follows an actor named Matt Hagen, who gains his shapeshifting abilities by injecting himself with a chemical called Renuyu. His dependence on the chemical quickly turns into an addiction, and when he consumes it orally, he transforms into the being we recognize as Clayface.
Flanagan’s script may not follow that storyline to the letter, but The Animated Series does create an ideal foundation for the upcoming film. The pieces may be coming together quickly, but hopefully that speaks to the promise of Flanagan’s vision, and that of the filmmakers bringing his story to life.
