Pre-production
DC Studios was eyeing J. A. Bayona to direct the film by the end of 2024. The studio was set to hear pitches from potential directors in the week of February 17, 2025, including James Watkins. Casting had begun by then, and the director was expected to be involved in that process once they were hired. Demián Rugna was also approached, but declined because he was not familiar with the character and was not interested in making a superhero film. Anthony D'Alessandro and Justin Kroll at Deadline Hollywood reported that Jeff Wadlow was also on the list of potential directors, but Aaron Couch and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter said Wadlow was never in the mix. They added that the film was considering potential production locations in North America, unlike other DC Studios films that were based in the United Kingdom, due to its lower budget. The film was described as a "Hollywood horror story" about the original incarnation of Clayface, and was expected to be set in both Hollywood and Gotham City. It was unclear whether filming would take place in Los Angeles following the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. Watkins entered negotiations to direct on February 21 after he gave a final presentation to Gunn the day before.
A few days after Watkins's selection was revealed, Gunn and Safran confirmed that he was in talks to direct, casting was underway, and the film would be part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate. They were aiming to start filming in the middle of 2025. Safran called it "an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have" in the DCU, and Gunn hoped it would work for horror fans who were not interested in DC, describing it as a body horror film. He said Tudyk would not reprise his role as Clayface, despite Gunn's intention to have the same actors portraying characters across different mediums, because the character was not Tudyk's "primary role" in the DCU; Tudyk primarily voiced Alex Sartorius / Doctor Phosphorus in Creature Commandos. Gunn also stated the film's events occurred prior to that of Superman (2025), and that its standalone story would also be "very connected" to the overarching DCU narrative. Safran later confirmed that it both took place prior to the first season of Creature Commandos (2024) and that both iterations of Clayface were the same character. Later in February, journalist Jeff Sneider reported that Daniel Radcliffe was one of two actors eyed to portray Clayface in the film, but Gunn said Radcliffe was not being considered. The next month, Sneider reported that another writer had joined the film to perform a "significant pass" on Flanagan's script.
By April 2025, the start of filming was pushed to that October. Hossein Amini, who co-created the television series McMafia (2018) with Watkins, was revealed to be rewriting the script a month later. Flanagan confirmed that he was no longer involved and said he expected Watkins to "make it [his] own", but he hoped the film would remain true to the spirit of what he originally wanted it to be. Tom Blyth, George MacKay, Jack O'Connell, and Leo Woodall were in the running and read for the title role in early June, but Gunn and Safran "weren't ready to pull the trigger" on any of those actors and decided to widen the search. Later that month, Gunn announced that relative newcomer Tom Rhys Harries had been cast as Clayface "after a long and incredibly exhaustive search". Amini completed multiple drafts by then, and Gunn said the script was entirely Flanagan's story with minor changes being made to finalize the shooting script. The film was intended to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association. The character Matt Hagen, the second incarnation of Clayface in the comics, was expected to appear. Filming was set to take place at DC Studios' production hub at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England. By early July, filming had reportedly been moved up to start the following month.
In the week of July 14, reading sessions for the film's female lead were held in England. Naomi Ackie emerged as the top choice for the role and was set to enter formal talks the next week. Her casting as the scientist who creates Clayface was confirmed a month later, when Max Minghella was in final talks to join the cast as a Gotham City police detective who is dating Ackie's character. James Price was the production designer, after previously working with Watkins on his film Speak No Evil (2024), while Keith Madden was the costume designer.
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