James Gunn pushed back on Threads after a fan questioned why DC Studios greenlit a movie about Clayface, arguing that popular demand isn’t what drives good filmmaking. The DC Studios co-chief and director listed several acclaimed films that nobody specifically asked for before they existed.
“Who tf asked for ‘Back to the Future’? ‘Casablanca’? ‘There’s Something About Mary’? ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’? ‘Fury Road’? ‘Weapons’? ‘The Matrix’?” Gunn wrote, responding directly to the user’s criticism.
James Gunn: Clayface Comes Under Fire From Fan Critic
Gunn didn’t stop at naming other films. He laid out his broader philosophy on how movies get made in the first place, rejecting the idea that studios should only produce projects based on existing fan interest.
“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,” Gunn wrote.
He then explained specifically how Clayface came together. The project started with director Mike Flanagan and was later shaped by James Watkins and Hossein Amini.
“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,” Gunn wrote. “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.”
What It Means For How DC Picks Its Stories
Gunn’s comments offer a window into the reasoning behind DC Studios’ slate under his leadership. Rather than defaulting to the most recognizable names in the DC catalog, Gunn is framing creative passion and a strong individual vision as the deciding factors for which characters get their own films.
Clayface fits that description. The character is a Batman villain best known to longtime comic readers rather than mainstream audiences, and the film takes a body horror approach with Tom Rhys Harries in the title role.
By pointing to a chain of filmmakers, starting with Flanagan and passing through Watkins and Amini, Gunn is crediting the project’s origin to creative instinct rather than a marketing calculation built around a known quantity.
Background On Gunn’s DC Studios Slate
Clayface arrives in theaters on Oct. 23 and follows a year that has already included Supergirl and the HBO series Lanterns. This isn’t the first time Gunn has had to clarify or defend decisions tied to his DC Studios slate. He has previously weighed in publicly when casting speculation on social media created confusion among fans about who is playing which role.
Gunn and fellow DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran have remained in their posts through corporate shifts, including staying on after the Paramount-Warner situation, giving them continued control over which projects move forward.
What’s Next For DC Studios
Clayface opens in theaters on Oct. 23. Beyond that release, DC Studios continues building out its slate under Gunn and Safran, with projects like Batman Part II also in development.
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