James Gunn answers critic who asked who wanted a Clayface film

DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has answered a blunt critic who asked who had requested a Clayface film.

The exchange took place on Threads, where Gunn replied directly to a user who wrote “who tf asked for a Clayface movie,” Variety reported on 8 October 2026.

Gunn pushed back on the premise. He said Hollywood should not work as a public vote on IP, shorthand for familiar characters and stories, where studios only make films about figures audiences have already seen countless times before.

He then named films nobody had campaigned for in advance. His list ran from Back to the Future, Casablanca and The Matrix to There’s Something About Mary, Pan’s Labyrinth, Fury Road and Weapons.

Nobody asked for those either. That was his point.

Gunn said writer Mike Flanagan, and later director James Watkins and writer Hossein Amini, were inspired by Clayface and built a special story around the character. Watkins directed the film.

Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, the actor who becomes the shape-shifting Clayface. The cast also includes Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan.

Clayface is set for release in theatres on 23 October. It is described as a body horror movie, meaning horror centred on physical transformation, by The Hollywood Reporter.

For viewers new to the character, this means Clayface arrives as a Batman villain given his own standalone story, rather than as part of an ensemble.