Mike Flanagan’s Clayface Movie Should Take a Cue From The Substance

Anticipation is high for the DCU cinematic slate, scheduled to kick off this summer with James Gunn’s Superman. And while fans are undeniably most excited about the reintroduction of DC’s most iconic heroes in this new incarnation, the Venn diagram of superhero movie fans and horror nerds might be more excited about another, less high-profile project in the works: a Clayface movie scripted by Mike Flanagan.

Little is known about the project so far, but some scant details were recently shared that give fans an idea of how Flanagan is framing the story. It’s described as a “Hollywood horror story” centered around the character’s most famous incarnation, a B-movie actor who takes a serum in order to stay young-looking and relevant in the movie business, with the unfortunate side effect of transforming him into a malleable monster. This basic setup sounds an awful lot like one of 2024’s biggest horror films, which also explored the horrors of aging in Hollywood and the lengths some will go to stay youthful: Coralie Fargeat’s Oscar-nominated The Substance. Without feeling like a knock-off, Flanagan’s Clayface movie could take some inspiration from The Substance to locate the humanity within the horror.

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The Substance’s Clayface Parallels

Flanagan’s take on Clayface seems to be pulling from his earliest incarnation and combining it with the Batman: The Animated Series take on the character. Clayface was introduced way back in 1940 as Basil Karlo, a B-movie actor who turns to a life of crime after finding out that one of his signature movies will be remade without him in the leading role. This version introduces the concept of the character as an aging actor, but Clayface is a persona adopted by Karlo from one of his films rather than an identity caused by his dabbling in mad science.

The Animated Series’ take on the character, introduced in the classic episode “Feat of Clay,” is an actor named Matt Hagen, who was disfigured in an accident and given a pharmaceutical that restores his looks, but ends up turning him into the monster Batman fans know and love when he’s force-fed a large quantity of the stuff. This version combines the character’s comic book roots with a more emotionally complex backstory that makes the character a victim as well as a villain. Based on the admittedly slim description, Flanagan’s take on the character seems to draw from a similar well of inspiration.

Clayface obviously predates The Substance by many years, and Fargeat hasn’t given any indication that the character inspired her film, but the parallels are quite strong. The Substance follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a TV fitness guru who gets put out to pasture by her boorish boss (Dennis Quaid) as soon as she’s deemed too old to carry her own show. At the hospital after a car accident, she’s given a card advertising something called “The Substance,” which will give her the opportunity to recapture some of her youth. Desperate not to lose her relevance, Elisabeth takes the strange medicine, and all kinds of mayhem ensues.

Both stories work as a sort of cautionary tale against trying to fight the natural process of aging, but both also derive their power from their Hollywood settings. Hollywood values youth and novelty above most other things, which gives both characters a clear motivation when their age threatens their livelihood. The Substance managed to stand out from the horror pack by anchoring its gruesome body horror in a thoughtful thematic core, and Flanagan’s Clayface movie could very well follow its example.

Why Clayface is a Good Choice for Flanagan

Flanagan certainly has no shortage of projects right now, from his in-development Dark Tower and Carrie series to the upcoming release of his film The Life of Chuck, and it’s been reported that he’ll only be writing the script for Clayface, not sitting in the director’s chair. Still, there’s plenty of opportunity for him to inject his sensibility into the project, particularly through his keen eye for character. Flanagan’s projects frequently marry horror stories with deeply human themes like grief and addiction, and it’s very likely he’ll take a similar approach to Clayface.

The character is somewhat outside of Flanagan’s typical horror wheelhouse, which more often revolves around the paranormal and the horrors that humans can inflict on one another. However, he’s had a proven track record of injecting a beating heart into each of his projects, so there’s no reason to think he won’t treat Clayface like any of his other characters. Flanagan is also a massive fan of the genre where he’s staked his claim, so he’s likely very aware of the parallels to The Substance, as well as how that movie’s more thoughtful spin on its genre tropes paid off (Flanagan hasn’t said much about the movie, but did indicate on Letterboxd that he’d seen it and liked it).

Flanagan and DC will likely try to avoid hewing too close to The Substance, but will hopefully still take some inspiration from that film’s success, with a product that delivers on the fun potential of a Clayface movie, with a thoughtful, human-focused core. Luckily, if anyone in horror is capable of pulling off that particular balancing act, it’s Mike Flanagan.