Clayface actor says the Batman-adjacent DC film is “going there” with its body horror elements, calling it a “proper movie” with a “great script”

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Clayface actor Max Minghella, who plays a character currently known simply as “John” in the DC Studios superhero horror film, is currently filming on the project in London. And true to the movie’s comic book roots, Minghella tells Collider that Clayface is fully embracing its body horror elements.

“I think I can say safely it’s going there,” Minghella states. “It’s a proper movie. It’s a really fantastic script.” Minghella goes on to praise the film’s director James Watkins, saying he’s especially a fan of his 2008 Michael Fassbender starring horror movie Eden Lake.

“I saw that movie when it came out, and it deeply affected me, so I was excited to get that call. I think he’s really kind of uniquely suited to it [Clayface], to be honest,” Minghella explains. “”If you look at his whole resume, he’s worked in all these different spaces that sort of equal the movie we’re making, so I can’t imagine anybody else doing it.”

Clayface stars actor Tom Rhys Harries in the title role, reportedly as Matt Hagen, the second Clayface in comics, who is the first incarnation of the character to have the power to shapeshift and to transform into sentient mud – though it comes at the cost of his humanity. True to form, set photos seem to show Harries as Hagen suffering from what appears to be a brutal physical transformation.

It’s also rumored that a very different Clayface, Basil Karlo, the original, will appear in The Batman 2. That version of the character is a former actor turned masked murderer. Carmen Ejogo played a character named Eve Karlo who dons a number of disguises in The Penguin, potentially teeing up the debut of Basil Karlo in the sequel film.

At the same time, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has downplayed potential connections between the Clayface movie, which is set in the new DCU, and The Batman 2, despite a similar bat-symbol having been spotted on the Clayface set.

Clayface is scheduled for release on September 11, 2026. While we wait, stay up to date on all the upcoming DC movies and shows currently in the works.