Horror master Mike Flanagan joins James Gunn’s new DC Universe with Clayface

A huge lump of clay has been thrown into the mix from the DC Universe, carefully shaped by the master of horror and heartbreak, Mike Flanagan, as the film’s writer. Back in 2021, the director of “Doctor Sleep,” “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass” revealed that he once made a solo film focusing on Batman villain Clayface. Unfortunately, like a lot His planned Stephen King film “Revival” Soon after the project found itself on a shelf gathering dust. Okay, now diverse Reports indicate that Flanagan’s “Clayface” has returned to the pottery wheel and is set to be produced by “The Batman” director and “The Penguin” producer Matt Reeves (along with his sixth Idaho Productions partner, Lynn Harris).

The bad news for some Flanna fans (yes, we started on that) is that while he will return to the project to write the script, he will not be taking over directing duties, as DC Studios is looking to bring in some other creepy maestro to take the helm. It can’t really be helped, given Flanagan’s schedule. After ditching House of N (aka Netflix) for Amazon, he’s now hard at work Adaptation of King’s classic novel Carrie as an all-new TV series. Flanagan is also preparing for He directed a new film called “Exorcist” for Blumhouse And still Developing a TV series based on the King’s Dark Tower booksso his plate is quite full at the moment. As for Clayface himself, well, the character has a long history in the DC Comics universe, so let’s dig into that a bit.

While we can only imagine Flanagan twisting and tweaking his take on Clayface with “Unchained Melody” playing in the background a la “Ghost,” the only thing to keep in mind is the iteration of the character we’ll be meeting. There have been many Clayfaces who have fought against Batman and even alongside him over the years, but the first and most famous person to take on the title in 1940 was Basil Carlo, a failed actor who, after being fired for a project he had helped develop, turned into… The dark side and became a serial killer. By 1961, the character of Clayface had received a slight revamp in DC comic books and gained the ability to shapeshift, which has since become one of his permanent traits.

Whether he has powers or not, Clayface definitely feels like the kind of character Flanagan would have. It’s also understandable why Warner Bros. Another look at Flanagan’s presentation before he’s added to DC Studios’ ever-growing list of development projects. The important thing to consider is whether this version of Clayface might meet the superhero he’s most famous for fighting — not to mention, if that happens, which version of the Caped Crusader will face him (whether it’s Robert Pattinson or someone else).

Clayface is a highly adaptable character for reasons beyond his superpowers, which is a good thing considering everything going on at DC Studios right now. With Reeves serving as producer, the plan could be to give Clayface a treatment similar to the one The Penguin got in his hit TV series, which would put a dark spin on another Batman villain that, thankfully, isn’t the Joker. . It will also depend on whether Clayface is included as part of the DCU proper or exists as part of it Reeves Batman epic crime sagaany Delivery time It’s not entirely clear at the moment, he points out. For each port:

Although Flanagan wasn’t promoting the character to be part of Matt Reeves’ DC elseworld, other sources said Clayface is a great addition to Reeves’ The Batman 2.

Above all, it should be noted that Alan Tudyk is He currently voices Clayface in the DCU’s “Creature Commandos” seriesWhich raises more questions about Flanagan’s film. Alternatively, “Clayface” could be its own thing in the same vein as Todd Phillips’ “Joker” films, focusing on a troubled, down-on-his-luck actor living in his own world with a fiery bat (man). vision. Whatever the case, we’re totally in, but let’s try to keep the singing to a minimum this time, please.