Clayface Director James Watkins Says James Gunn Gave Him Total Freedom to Reinvent Gotham City

Clayface opens in theaters on October 23, and it marks the first time the DCU has shown its version of Gotham City on screen. Director James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and screenwriter Hossein Amini adapted the body horror from a script originally penned by Mike Flanagan, turning one of Batman’s most infamous villains into the center of a standalone origin story. Ahead of release, Watkins told Collider that James Gunn and Peter Safran gave him complete creative control, saying there were “no mandates at all” on how to approach the DCU’s new Gotham.

A Corrupted Gotham Built From Liverpool Streets

Clayface follows Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a struggling actor who submits to an experimental procedure after a run-in with a Gotham crime boss leaves him disfigured, setting him on a path toward a maddening transformation. Watkins and production designer James Price, an Oscar winner for Poor Things, built their Gotham by looking at German Expressionist cinema from the 1930s and New York street photography from before the city was cleaned up in the 1980s and 90s. The crew shot largely on location in Liverpool rather than on soundstages, leaning on the city’s mercantile-era architecture, which Watkins noted historically influenced New York’s own building style. The goal, he said, was to ground the city in a real world where you feel the corruption, following Hagen’s journey from a penthouse down through the Narrows and eventually underground.

Tom Rhys Harries stars as Matt Hagen, the actor whose disfigurement sets Clayface’s transformation in motion.

Vintage Anamorphic Lenses Give the Film an Old-School Feel

Watkins also detailed the technical choices behind Clayface’s look, revealing the film was shot in a wide aspect ratio using 1970s C Series Panavision anamorphic lenses alongside cinematographer Rob Hardy. He said the approach strips away the digital sheen common in modern blockbusters and lets the wider frame separate characters within a scene, citing Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West as a visual touchstone for using screen width as storytelling. Watkins added that the production design team hid numerous Easter eggs throughout Gotham’s street signage and set dressing that are easy to miss on a first viewing.

Watkins Wants Clayface’s Horror to Play for a Crowd

Beyond the visuals, Watkins said he built Clayface specifically for a theatrical crowd, comparing the communal reaction he wants from audiences to riding a roller coaster together, building tension until viewers need the release of a scare or a laugh. He compared the experience to a live concert, arguing that a shared audience reaction, not screen size, is what makes a trip to the theater worthwhile over waiting for a title to stream at home.

Clayface rounds out a cast that includes Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, and Max Minghella, with James Gunn, Lynn Harris, Matt Reeves, and Peter Safran producing. It’s the first DCU feature to establish Gotham on screen, arriving well ahead of Matt Reeves’ own take on the city in The Batman Part II, and lands in theaters this Friday, October 23.

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Picture Source: DC, Warner Bros.