Mike Flanagan Admits His ‘Clayface’ Script Was Inspired By The Villain’s Portrayal In ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ – “That’s My Batman!”
Maybe Clayface isn’t ripping off The Substance, after all. The prolific purveyor of Netflix horror miniseries and director of the new film The Life of Chuck, Mike Flanagan, explained what made him put Stephen King adaptations aside and dabble in DC material for a minute with his script.
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To the surprise of no one (although that’s admittedly an educated guess), Flanagan is a fan of Batman: The Animated Series and drew inspiration from the two-part arc “Feat of Clay” which featured future Hellboy Ron Perlman as the voice of Matt Hagen, the iteration most hold up as the best.
“I mean that is the perfect [story]. ‘Feat of Clay,’ Ron Perlman, to me, that’s it. That two-parter knocked me out. The short answer is that is absolutely what inspired my script. That is the world I wanted to live in,” Flanagan said in an interview with Comic Book.
However, the movie is out of his hands and probably won’t reflect what his vision was. “I don’t know what they’re doing with Clayface. I’m not directing it, and that filmmaker will need to make it their own. I know that they’re doing work on the script. I’m off doing other things now,” he conceded.
“I really hope it remains true to the spirit of what I wanted it to be,” Flanagan added. “But it’s not my movie, so I’ll be in the audience with you, anxious to see how it comes out.”
Speak No Evil director James Watkins is taking up duties at the helm that Flanagan had to step away from, while his script is being completely rewritten by Drive and 47 Ronin scribe Hossein Amini.
Concern lingers that the film they come up with will ride the coattails of the Oscar-nominated Substance, which is a fitting honor. That film did everything possible to push the envelope (pun intended).
It might not have swept Oscar Night the way its supporters hoped, but catching the wave of a talked-about Oscar contender is predictable behavior, and it might pay off if the DCU gets on track after Superman. If not, at least we have BTAS to look back on.
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