James Gunn Fires Back at Fan Who Snarked: “Who Asked for a ‘Clayface’ Movie?”

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Clayface tickets just went on sale, and the film is DC Studios‘ next big swing — a body horror movie that tries something different than the usual superhero slate.

Studio co-chief James Gunn — fresh off having his role reaffirmed in the wake of Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. — took to Threads to defend the project after a user asked, “Who the f–k asked for a Clayface movie?”

Gunn shot back, rather correctly: “Who tf asked for Back to the Future? Casablanca? There’s Something About Mary? Pan’s Labyrinth? Fury Road? Weapons? The Matrix? Although it may seem like it, Hollywood isn’t a place where the only way to make a movie is the public voting on what IP they want to see that they’ve seen countless times before.”

Continued Gunn: “Sometimes someone — in this case initially Mike Flanagan and then James Watkins and Hossein Amini — were inspired by a relatively little known fictional character and crafted what I believe is a very special story around that character. I’d take that inspiration a thousand times over some writer trying to make a buck by writing a listless screenplay about a majorly popular character he or she has no passion or feel for.”

Indeed, while Gunn is certainly interested in reviving DC’s iconic heroes — executive producing The Batman: Part II, working on the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow — turning niche characters into box-office hits is how Gunn made his bones in the superhero world, with the once seemingly un-makable Guardians of the Galaxy (one could easily imagine fans asking: Who tf asked for a talking raccoon? — until they got one).

That said, Gunn tried to pour cold water on the widespread theory that Adria Arjona will play Wonder Woman in the Superman sequel. The executive replied to a fan pointing out that actor Frank Grillo — who plays Rick Flag in the DC Universe — had reposted an image suggesting Arjona was the new Diana Prince.

“It’s Frank reposting somebody because it has his photo in it and he loves himself,” Gunn wrote. “I can assure you Frank doesn’t know who Adria is playing in the DCU and whether or not she has any sort of incredibly small cameo in MoT or not. People have been making wayyyyyyyyyyy too much of this.”

As for Clayface, the film comes out Oct. 23. While there are no first reactions or reviews yet, the trailers have looked strong (watch the final trailer below). The official description of the Watkins-directed film: “Actor Matt Hagen’s (Tom Rhys Harries) meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.”