The Clayface teaser trailer has arrived.
The first footage (below) from the high curiosity project from DC Studios follows an up-and-coming actor (Tom Rhys Harries) whose face is disfigured by a gangster. As a last resort, he turns to a scientist (Naomi Ackie) who transforms his body into clay.
The body horror film from director James Watkins (Speak No Evil) is based on a script by Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan along with Hossein Amini. In February, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn told reporters that the studio, “had no plans [to make] a Clayface movie,” but then Flanagan “turned in a script and it’s one of the best scripts that we’ve read.”
Like Todd Phillips’ 2019 hit Joker, the project will serve as an origin story for a Batman villain and is likewise expected to carry an R rating. Unlike Joker, and its 2024 sequel, the project is considered part of the DC Universe rather than its own self-contained world.
“Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those,” DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran has said, with Gunn adding the film will feel “totally real” and will be “true and psychological and body horror and gross.”
Clayface is slated to take advantage of spooky season at the box office, hitting theaters on Oct. 23. First up for DC, however, is Supergirl, which takes flight on June 26. The duo are seen as the second wave of theatrical projects for Gunn and Safran since last year’s hit, Superman.
