Four actors are now said to be in the running to play the title role (Basil Karlo, presumably) in Speak No Evil director James Watkins' solo Clayface movie for DC Studios.
According to MTTSH, George MacKay (1917, The Beast), Tom Blythe (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Jack O'Connell (Sinners, Starred Up) and Leo Woodall (One Day, The White Lotus) are all testing for the part, with "one of them expected to land it."
We'll have to treat this as a rumor for now, but if there's anything to it, expect to trades to confirm soon. For what it's worth, another reliable scooper has since weighed-in with the following.
Watkins reportedly landed the gig after an extensive search, and met with DC co-CEO James Gunn back in February for a final presentation before officially being offered the project.
"Sources say the film is budgeted at $40 million and is a Hollywood horror tale centering on a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant, only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay."
Gunn will produce alongside Peter Dafran and The Batman director Matt Reeves, with Lynn Harris and Chantal Nong serving as executive producers.
Mike Flanagan penned the script, but was reportedly unavailable to direct due to his commitments to a Carrie TV series and the new Exorcist movie. The project has been given an official release date of September 11, 2026.
Based on previous comments from Gunn, the movie will be set in the DCU, as opposed to Reeves' "BatVerse."
"Exciting news out of [DC] Studios today as [Clayface], a DCU story from a script by Mike Flanagan, has been OFFICIALLY greenlit. Clayface premieres in 2026."
Safran shared a few new details on the Flanagan script, noting that Clayface is indeed going to be a full-on horror movie in the same vein as David Cronenberg's The Fly, and more recently, we learned that the movie will also take more than a little inspiration from Coralie Fargeat's body horror hit, The Substance.
"Clayface, you see, is a Hollywood horror story, according to our sources, using the most popular incarnation of the villain – a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay.".
Clayface is looking to shoot in a variety of locales, including Vancouver, Toronto, and New Jersey or Atlanta.
What do you make of this rumor? Which of these four actors would you most like to see play Clayface? Drop us a comment down below.