Mike Flanagan Isn’t Directing His ‘Clayface’ Movie but We Know Who Might

James Gunn has taken a startling position in today’s Hollywood landscape: His DC movies won’t get behind the camera until their scripts are finished. That’s a big deal! Stories emerged about how Giancarlo Esposito’s character was added to Captain America: Brave New World during reshoots—a major character, shifting the dynamics of the story, after the fact. This isn’t a new problem, nor is it specific to comic book films, but the idea that Gunn wanted to avoid those trappings was exciting, and announcing a new Mike Flanagan movie as part of his slate added to that excitement.

Flanagan was announced to have written a Clayface movie for DC. When it was revealed, it even had a release date. Given Gunn’s want to have movies ready before they’re shot, having a set release showed confidence in the project. While it wasn’t included in the announcement, I hoped that Flanagan would direct the picture as well. However, the man is about to be tied up in Exorcist land, so it doesn’t look like he will be behind the camera for the film. But, now we know who might snag the job.

Deadline is reporting that DC will meet with Directors next week to see who will helm Flanagan’s script. Two names in the mix are Jeff Wadlow and James Watkins. Wadlow has been a mainstay at Blumhouse, directing films like Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island, and Imaginary. Watkins was behind the recent remake of Speak No Evil and also directed The Woman in Black (if you ever watched a horror movie on Amazon Prime you at least know the poster). The two choices are the only names in Deadline’s report, but I’d assume DC has more than two choices.

Mike Flanagan is an excellent writer and if Gunn wants to go in with his script being finished I hope it won’t change that much. I’d be lying if I said having him write a script only to hand it off to someone else makes me a little less excited. That isn’t a knock against either of these filmmakers, I would just prefer a singular creative voice when possible. Flanagan has talked about his want to make a Clayface film since 2021, I’d love to see his uncut vision. That being said, the movie moving into production at all brings its own excitement.

While Gunn’s first “phase” of DC films was announced without a Clayface film, the fact that he’s adding it shows confidence in the project, despite it being an (arguably) weird choice. There isn’t even an established Batman in Gunn’s DCU yet. We know he exists but don’t know who will play him or if he’ll even be Bruce Wayne! What we do know is that Gunn has some kind of plan and the script Flanagan wrote was so good that Clayface is now part of those plans. I’ll take it.