Clayface director James Watkins just teased how his new movie connects to the DCU's Batman. The film hits theaters on October 23, just over two weeks from now, so the final push to market it ahead of release is in full swing. Made on a smaller budget than most comic book movies, it dives into the horror side of James Gunn's DCU for the first time and will explore the origins of Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) becoming Clayface. With Watkins at the helm and Mike Flanagan having penned the script, DC Studios is hoping Clayface can draw in superhero movie fans and horror heads alike.
Watkins and Rhys Harries recently spoke with SFX Magazine for its latest issue, and the DCU's Gotham City was a big topic of conversation. With Matt Reeves' The Batman universe existing in its own separate reality, the movie gives fans their first glimpse of Bruce Wayne's iconic home in the live-action DCU.
That raises an obvious question about Batman himself, who doesn't seem close to making his proper DCU debut.
Watkins made it clear that audiences will "feel the shadow of Batman inherently" because of the Gotham setting:
"You're in a city called Gotham. So I guess you feel the shadow of Batman inherently, because of the nature of where you are."
Technically, the DCU's Batman has already made a shadowy appearance of his own. He popped up as a split-second silhouette in Creature Commandos Season 1. Though an official casting of the character, or progress on The Brave and the Bold, has been muted.
When it comes to Clayface's take on Gotham, Watkins revealed that he and production designer James Price looked at "a lot of noir and German Expressionism" to make the city's buildings "loom over you:"
"We talked a lot about Gotham. James Price, the production designer, and I looked at a lot of noir and German Expressionism, the buildings and how they loom over you."
Watkins and cinematographer Rob Hardy also zeroed in on the lighting, chasing "the dirty orange light" of Gotham for what the director describes as "a film about reflections:"
"[Cinematographer] Rob Hardy and I talked about the tungsten light, the dirty orange light of that world, lots of neons and lots of neon reflections. It's a film about reflections, in many ways."
Real-world New York helped shape Gotham as well, with Watkins pointing to the "bawdy glamour" captured in "1980s and 1990s New York street photography:"
"We also looked at a lot of 1980s and 1990s New York street photography. There was a documentary called Everybody Street, and I looked at a lot of the work of the photographers within it. It captures the bawdy glamour of New York, slightly edgy, slightly eccentric, slightly menacing, richly saturated colours. It's got a pop to it, but the pop never breaks the boundaries of being real."
Basing Gotham off of New York City is nothing new, most recently seen in Todd Phillips' Joker, and even some aspects of The Batman city.
Something many fans will celebrate is that Watkins said he was "not micro-managed at all" and that the goal was for Gotham City to be "corrupt:"
"I was not micro-managed at all. We want the world to be corrupt. We want it to be a city where the litter doesn't get picked up, where there's a sense of decay, where there's dirt, where the canyons of these places are overbearing."
According to Watkins, there was always "a storytelling reason" behind those choices, and he credited Gunn for giving him "real support:"
"There's always a guiding intelligence, a storytelling reason behind the choices. James [Gunn] is a storyteller, so any conversation you have about that is like, yeah, that makes total sense? I had real support."
Harries, meanwhile, got to experience that grimy take on Gotham up close. When SFX asked whether walking around the city was a thrill, the actor's excitement was unrestrained: "I've been to Gotham!"
"Of course! How sick is that? I've been to Gotham! Matt isn't preoccupied with the fact that he's in Gotham, but I would have moments every week where I'd be like, 'Wow, this is so strange.' I got to wander around the dingy back alleys. It's so atmospheric, and very allegorical."
As for Gotham's most famous resident, Harries isn't exactly shaking in his boots. Asked if he'd be up for squaring off against the DCU's Batman someday, he declared he "could take Batman out," arguing that Clayface is "so overpowered" by comparison:
"Yeah, I could take Batman out! Clayface is so overpowered comparative to Batman. I can become anybody. I can become anything. Once Matt gains control over his powers then you're in a space where you're like, 'What do you want to use these for?'"
Harries leads a cast that also includes Dr. Caitlin Corr (Naomi Ackie) and a Gotham City detective (Max Minghella), with Eddie Marsan, and David Dencik.
The movie arrives hot on the heels of fellow DCU project Lanterns, which wrapped its first season on HBO, giving John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) his own unique lantern.
And despite Clayface's roots as a Batman villain in the comics, DC Studios has now officially deemed this an anti-hero story rather than a villain story.
Gotham City's DCU Future
Gotham has been lurking around the edges of the DCU from the very start. As mentioned, Creature Commandos gave fans their first look at the city through Dr. Phosphorus' origin story. Even the Superman movie snuck Gotham onto a highway sign, helping connect this young cinematic universe.
Peacemaker Season 2 introduced White Rabbit (Brey Noelle) and let slip that Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) and her ex-wife once lived there, while Lanterns revealed Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) hails from Gotham and it was shown during a brief flashback scene.
With DC Studios clearly not scared to make the city part of its story, Clayface finally puts Gotham front and center, reportedly packing in over 40 locations from Batman lore.
That's a lot of real estate for one horror movie, and it could lay the groundwork for The Brave and the Bold, or whatever the eventual DCU Batman film is ultimately titled.
