Confirmed: DC Studios is reworking outgoing director Mike Flanagan’s Clayface script, as Hossein Amini takes over writing duties.
Last week, we learned that DC Studios was planning to rewrite Mike Flanagan’s script for a Clayface film, erasing (although we don’t know to exactly what degree) the horror maestro’s take on the tragic villain who originated in the pages of the Batman comic books.
The story in short: Flanagan – a filmmaker famed for his horror storytelling – pitched the studio an idea for a Clayface film that would presumably lean into the character’s potential as a horror monster. Think The Substance crossed with Phantom Of The Opera and you find yourself in a space ripe with storytelling potential; the Clayface character exists in several different iterations. We’re not exactly sure that’s how Flanagan’s take would have gone – and now we may never know.
First, Flanagan abandoned any hopes of directing the film because of his busy slate. The filmmaker is hard at work on a Carrie TV show and has a new entry in The Exorcist series in the works for Blumhouse. At least DC Studios was using his script though. That is, until the studio elected not to.
The report from last week offered conflicting takes on just how drastic a rewrite it would be, with one source claiming that it was just a ‘director’s pass’ that would make a few revisions. James Watkins, helmer of the Hollywood remake of Speak No Evil is in the director’s chair.
Hopes that Flanagan’s script might survive fairly intact are fading, however, given that (according to The Wrap), Drive, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Our Kind of Traitor screenwriter Hossein Amini has been hired for the re-write of Clayface. With Amini on board, we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out, but you can bet that, in the same vein as Ant-Man and Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans of the original creative force behind the project will closely examine the released film for elements that suggest his presence.
The film is set to shoot in October of this year in the UK. DC Studios will release the film and introduce its shape-shifting title character to the world on the 11th September 2026. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
