Doctor Sleep Director Wants to Make Standalone Clayface Movie

Even before Joker became a billion dollar grossing, Oscar winning movie, WarnerMedia had indicated that it wanted to experiment in that realm of smaller comic book movies that were more focused on singular characters and less on big budget spectacle. Despite the tremendous success of the Todd Phillips directed movie, no other projects with a similar motif have been announced by the studio just yet. If Warners are serious about continuing that though, a filmmaker that they’ve worked with before is ready to throw his hat in the ring with none other than Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan who revealed his idea on Twitter.

When asked by a fan online what character or team he would want to make a DC movie for, Flanagan answered with two ideas, one of which fits WB’s previously announced plans for smaller movies. “Well I’ve wanted to do a Superman movie since I was a kid,” Flanagan replied. “But I would also be really keen to do a standalone Clayface movie as a horror/thriller/tragedy.”

There have been a variety of different versions of Clayface, with most of them having turned into a giant mud-like monster with the malleable ability to transform their appearance into disguises or weapons. The original version of the character, Basil Karlo (who made his debut early in Batman’s career in 1940’s Detective Comics #40), was a disgruntled actor who became Clayface based on a character he had played in a movie, wearing this mask to kill. Frankly this seems ripe for a smaller DC movie, and like Joker wouldn’t require a huge budget or an appearance by a fully grown Batman.

“I said, ‘Let Joker be the first, then let’s get f***ing great filmmakers to come in,’” Phillips recalled in an interview with Empire about pitching the idea to WB. “Instead of trying to live in the shadow of that beast (he meant Marvel Studios), let’s do something they can’t do. I said, ‘Let’s just strip that all away. It’ll be liberating.’”

By the end of its run, Joker had brought in over $1.074 billion at the global box office and nabbed countless awards including Best Original Score and Best Actor for star Joaquin Phoenix, his first win. Despite that success, no other film of that nature has been announced or even rumored to be in development, perhaps WB should give Mike Flanagan a call.