Clayface Movie Is R-Rated Body Horror and Casting Soon, Says James Gunn

Clayface is taking shape at DC Studios. Following reports that The Woman in Black and Speak No Evil filmmaker James Watkins is in talks to direct the third film in the new DC Universe (after this summer’s Superman and next summer’s Supergirl), DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran confirmed that Watkins is molding the body horror penned by The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass creator Mike Flanagan. And in more news out of a DC press conference attended by ComicBook, Clayface will mark the first R-rated DCU movie when the Batman spinoff oozes into theaters on Sept. 11, 2026.

“This summer cameras are going to roll on Clayface, an incredible body horror film that reveals the compelling origin of a classic Batman villain,” Safran said, adding the project was added to the DC Studios slate based on “the strength of an exceptional screenplay” by Flanagan.

RELATED: The Many Faces of Clayface, Explained

Gunn and Safran also announced that casting will begin as soon as Watkins’ deal is set in stone.

Clayface is “pure f—ing horror,” Gunn said, describing Watkins and Flanagan’s take on the shape-shifting Batman villain as “so real and true, and psychological, and body horror, and gross.”

Added Safran, “Clayface may not be as widely known as Penguin or Joker. But we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling. And in many ways more terrifying.”

While the mention of two of Batman’s more famous rogues brings to mind TV-MA or R-rated projects like The Penguin and 2019’s Joker, Gunn and Safran likened Clayface to 2016’s The Belko Experiment, director Greg McLean’s Gunn and Safran-produced ultra-violent horror-thriller based on Gunn’s script.

“One of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the [Clayface] script was, ‘If we were producing [DC] movies … 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,” Gunn said. “Because it was just a really excellent body horror script. And the fact that it’s in the DCU is just a plus.”

The DCU Clayface appeared in the first season of the Max animated series Creature Commandos, voiced by Alan Tudyk, although multiple characters have used the name since his debut in 1940’s Detective Comics #40, including Basil Karlo, Matt Hagen, and Preston Payne.

Gunn’s Superman movie soars into theaters July 11, followed by the Craig Gillespie-directed Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow on June 26, 2026, and Clayface on Sept. 11, 2026.