James Gunn Fires Back at Fans Questioning Why DC is Making a CLAYFACE Movie
James Gunn has a pretty good response for anyone wondering why DC Studios is making a movie about Clayface instead of a more recognizable DC Comics character.
According to the filmmaker, Hollywood doesn't need fans to vote on which characters deserve their own movies. The DC Studios co-head recently responded to a commenter on Threads who asked, “who tf asked for a Clayface movie,” questioning why the studio would invest in a relatively obscure Batman villain.
Gunn wasn't having it, and he fired back with a list of beloved movies that nobody was specifically asking Hollywood to make.
“Who tf asked for Back to the Future? Casablanca? There’s Something About Mary? Pan’s Labyrinth? Fury Road? Weapons? The Matrix?” Although it may seem like it, Hollywood isn’t a place where the only way to make a movie is the public voting on what IP they want to see that they’ve seen countless times before.”
It's a fair argument. Some of the greatest movies ever made came from filmmakers pursuing interesting ideas rather than studios trying to satisfy audience demand for familiar properties.
Gunn followed up by explaining how Clayface came together and why he believes the upcoming DC horror movie deserves a shot.
“Sometimes someone — in this case initially Mike Flanagan and then James Watkins and Hossein Amini — were inspired by a relatively little-known fictional character and crafted what I believe is a very special story around that character.
“I’d take that inspiration a thousand times over some writer trying to make a buck by writing a listless screenplay about a majorly popular character he or she has no passion or feel for.”
That's the kind of thinking I like to see from someone running a studio. There's nothing wrong with making movies about popular superheroes, but there's also plenty of room to explore the stranger and more unique corners of the DC Universe.
Not every character needs to be Superman or Batman to have an interesting story worth telling. The upcoming Clayface movie is a perfect example. While the character has been around since 1940 and has appeared in various Batman adaptations over the years, this will be his first standalone feature film.
Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil), the movie takes the Batman villain into full-on body horror territory, something that immediately makes it different from the usual superhero fare.
The film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, an aspiring Hollywood star whose life takes a horrifying turn after a violent encounter leaves him disfigured.
The official synopsis reads” “Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured.
“Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting-edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.”
That sounds like a pretty cool foundation for a tragic monster movie, especially with Clayface's shape-shifting abilities and the psychological horror that comes with losing control of your own body.
The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, and Eddie Marsan.
While Clayface might seem like an unusual choice compared to DC's bigger superhero properties, the gruesome trailer has already given fans plenty of reasons to be excited.
Gunn's bigger point is worth considering. If studios only made movies based on characters audiences were already familiar with, we'd miss out on a lot of great stories. Hell, Iron Man was a character that a lot of people weren’t familiar with! Look where that went!
Personally, I'd rather see a filmmaker take a lesser-known character and do something awesome with it than watch another familiar superhero get a movie simply because they're popular.
If Clayface delivers on its horror premise, it could open the door for DC Studios to explore more of its unusual characters and genres.
Clayface hits theaters on October 23, 2026.
What do you think? Are you excited to see DC Studios take a chance on a Clayface horror movie, or would you rather see the studio focus on its bigger-name heroes?