Clayface Casting Shortlist Revealed: Hunger Games Star or Sinner?

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DC Studios is shaping new talents to become their future leading stars. It’s been announced that the Clayface movie, penned by Mike Flanagan (known for The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass) with James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) at the helm, will start filming this fall at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the UK. Notably, DC Studios is said to be auditioning British actors for the main role of the shape-shifting Batman antagonist.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, contenders for the role of Clayface are George MacKay, known for his work in the film “1917”, Tom Blyth from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, Leo Woodall who has been seen on “The White Lotus”, and Jack O’Connell, who recently portrayed vampire Remmick in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” for Warner Bros.

According to THR’s latest update, the list of candidates has been narrowed to just three, but they didn’t reveal which actor won’t be taking the role.

The monstrous character known as “Clayface,” which DC Studios executives James Gunn and Peter Safran have labeled as “pure, terrifying horror,” is set to commence filming on October 1. As per the latest updates from Mike Flanagan, he has been inspired by the two-part episode of “Batman: The Animated Series” titled “Feat of Clay.” In this storyline, the character Clayface, voiced by Ron Perlman, is Matt Hagen – a skilled shape-shifter and actor who becomes a grotesque monster due to his excessive use of a regenerative face cream called “Renuyu,” giving him the power to transform and mold his pliable body into that of other people.

Flanagan praised the two episodes penned by the legendary comic writer Marv Wolfman (of The New Teen Titans fame) and animation veteran Michael Reaves (known for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm), saying, “These episodes are simply outstanding. When I think of this two-parter, Ron Perlman immediately comes to mind. It left me utterly impressed.

Flanagan went on to explain that the primary source of inspiration for his script was indeed it. He longed to inhabit such a world. For him, “Batman: The Animated Series” was the Batman he knew and loved during his childhood. Even though Michael Keaton was his Batman, the animated series was truly his Batman.

In the world of comics, Hagen became the second character to assume the role of Clayface, following Basil Karlo. Originally a talented actor and makeup artist in the Golden Age of Detective Comics and Batman comics, Hagen transitioned into a deadly villain wearing a costume. Later on in the Silver Age, the original Clayface was “Lucky” Matt Hagen, a treasure hunter. An accidental encounter with liquid protoplasm granted him the extraordinary ability to shape-shift his body into any form he could imagine, making him a metahuman.

Screenwriter Hossein Amini (known for ‘Drive’, ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ and co-creator of ‘McMafia’ on AMC) is revising Flanagan’s original R-rated body horror script, giving it a new shape.

I’m unsure about the direction they’re taking with Clayface. I’m not involved in its production, and the filmmaker will have to make it their own creation. I can confirm that work is being done on the script, but I’m currently focused on other projects. I sincerely hope it maintains the essence of what I envisioned for it. Since it’s not my movie, I’ll be just as eager as you to see how it turns out when it’s released.

DC Studios has set Clayface to open in theaters on Sept. 11, 2026.

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2025-06-08 21:44