Mike Flanagan has spoken to ComicBookMovie.com about his role — or lack thereof — in the upcoming DCU film Clayface.
“Clayface, you know, very much is not mine. It’s James Watkins’ movie. I wrote a script I loved and I turned it in… I’m excited to see it and see what James did with it. But that’s James’ film.”
I’ve seen people still under the impression that Mike Flanagan is involved in the Clayface movie. That’s understandable, because it was originally reported in 2023 as a film to be written and directed by Flanagan. It was revealed that he even pitched the movie himself.
In 2024 when DC Studios officially gave Clayface the greenlight, it was clear that Flanagan wouldn’t be able to direct the film because of other commitments. He’d already written a script, but he had to step away from the project after that.
In 2025 James Watkins was hired as the director of Clayface. In May of that year Hossein Amini was hired to rewrite Flanagan’s script. Flanagan confirmed that he was no longer part of the project, but he hoped the finished film would stay true to the spirit of what he’d worked on. But at this point he doesn’t know how close or far from his initial idea the movie has strayed.
James Gunn did go on Threads to say that the finalized script is “all Mike’s story,” and that “any changes as the shooting script is finalized are minor.”
Clayface is in theaters October 23.
