Mike Flanagan Distances Himself From the Finished CLAYFACE Movie: “Very Much is Not Mine”

Mike Flanagan may have written the original script for Clayface, but the filmmaker wants fans to know the finished DCU movie isn’t his film. In fact, he hasn’t even seen it yet.

Clayface was one of the more surprising additions to DC Studios’ “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters” lineup. The project initially caught my attention because it was described as a passion project for Flanagan, whose horror sensibilities seemed like a killer match for one of Batman’s strangest and tragic villains.

Flanagan originally developed the project with Matt Reeves before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios. When Flanagan became occupied with Prime Video’s Carrie series, DC moved forward with the movie without him, bringing in Hossein Amini to work on the screenplay and James Watkins to direct.

While talking about Carrie, Flanagan explained why writing Clayface gave him considerably more freedom than adapting a story audiences already know.

"[Carrie] was different because Clayface had never been adapted before outside of the animated series and in a lot of the animated work, but had never made it into a feature film and certainly never as the central character. And so Clayface for me felt kind of wide open. It was we were the first to kind of get in and do that."

That freedom is part of what made Flanagan’s involvement so exciting. He had the opportunity to build a cinematic version of Clayface without being boxed in by a previous live-action interpretation.

However, when it comes to the movie audiences are about to see, Flanagan made it clear that ownership now belongs to Watkins.

"Now that said, Clayface, you know, very much is not mine. It’s James Watkins’ movie. I wrote a script I loved and I turned it in and then that’s the last... I haven’t even seen it. I’m excited to see it and see what James did with it. But that’s James’ film, and I’m so excited to see what he made."

I’ll admit, that makes me a little worried. Flanagan writing Clayface is the main reason I’ve been excited about this movie. He has such a strong handle on horror, tragedy, and damaged characters that the idea of him tackling Clayface sounded perfect.

The fact that he handed in a script he loved and apparently had no further involvement leaves a pretty big question hanging over the finished movie, and that is, how much of his original vision survived?

Watkins could have made something great with the material, and I hope that’s exactly what happened. At the same time, there’s always the possibility that Flanagan’s screenplay went through substantial changes after he stepped away.

Taking a great original script and reshaping it into something less interesting certainly wouldn’t be unheard of in Hollywood. Hopefully, the core of what Flanagan created remains intact.

The DCU film follows Matt Hagen, whose rapid journey from a Gotham street kid to a Hollywood leading man comes crashing down after a local crime boss leaves him horribly disfigured. With his career and support system gone, Hagen undergoes an experimental treatment that restores his appearance.

The treatment begins affecting his grip on reality, sending him toward an increasingly destructive campaign of revenge. That story sounds perfectly suited to body horror and psychological tragedy, which makes it easy to understand why Flanagan was attracted to the character in the first place.

While Clayface has moved out of his hands, Flanagan is still fighting to get another major passion project made withThe Dark Tower. His planned adaptation of Stephen King’s fantasy epic has been in development for years, and he remains determined to bring it to the screen.

"I’m trying so hard. Yeah. Believe me, I’m not the one standing in its way. I promise," Flanagan said. "But yes, that’s my sincere, sincere hope. Yeah."

I’m still rooting for Clayface. There’s a potentially awesome horror movie hiding inside this character, and Flanagan’s original involvement gives me hope that the foundation is strong. Now I just want to know how much of that foundation Watkins and the rest of the creative team kept.

Clayface opens in theaters October 23.