I spoke with DC Studios’ co-CEO and co-chairman Peter Safran this week about the status of the studio’s future projects now that Warner Bros. has been acquired by Skydance.
Our discussion ranged from DC’s newest release, Clayface, to their upcoming feature film, television and animated projects, including The Batman: Part Two, Man of Tomorrow, The People v. Gorilla Grodd, Mister Miracle, and what DC Studios co-boss and filmmaker James Gunn might direct after his Superman follow-up.
My chat with Peter Safran follows. It has been edited for clarity.
IGN: Congratulations on Clayface actually happening. Back in the day, the best we could have hoped for is a SyFy Channel movie. Like Man-Thing.
Peter Safran: Exactly, exactly. Well, thankfully, we all did grow up loving “Feat of Clay" in the [Batman] animated series so, when [Mike] Flanagan came in to pitch us, he had a very, very receptive audience, that is for sure.
So, we've had a few things but it's only the third narrative feature to come out, which is probably not what one would necessarily expect when you're rebooting a whole universe. But we've always said that we're going to be driven by good screenplays, and Flanagan wrote a great screenplay.
IGN: Clayface is going to be the first release under the new Skydance regime. I know you have to be circumspect about private conversations, but were you and James given any marching orders from David Ellison about what maybe he'd like to see from the DCU going forward?
Peter Safran: You know what, he was very complimentary about what we've done and just wants to give us the resources to keep doing what we're doing. I think he sees the long-term vision that we have and we certainly laid it out for him earlier this year, and he wants us to keep doing that.
IGN: Clayface is the smallest movie you guys have done. I like that it's basically the movie that doesn't get made much anymore, $40 million or whatever movie. Do you plan on making some more of these smaller films or is it a wait and see kind of thing?
Peter Safran: We've always said that our slate should have a very broad spectrum of tones and budgets and scales and scopes and this is just another example of us living up to what we said we were going to do. James and I are both pretty, and you and I have talked about horror for years, James and I are very steeped in the world of horror so the fact that we can make a full on R-rated body horror picture but under the banner of DCU and within the DCU is incredibly exciting, that's really a dream come true. And at its core, Clayface for us really represents exactly the creative flexibility that makes DC unique.
So, from its conception, the project was never designed to be a traditional superhero movie, but it was always a character-driven story that uses DC mythology to explore obsession, identity, fame, transformation, to explore those themes. So, it really does represent the kind of thing that we were talking about early on, and I think that audiences really do crave things that feel different and this one truly does.
I think that the genre approach, rather than following the conventions of a classic comic book spectacle, instead we're, and you saw the movie last night, we're leaning into the psychological body horror elements creating this really unsettling experience. And the character's ability to physically transform becomes a vehicle to explore these deeper human fears about identity and self-worth and losing control and there's a real story at its heart, there's a real character journey at the heart of this movie. And I always say that the best horror movie is, if you strip out the horror, there's still a good drama and I feel like that's what this is. It's got some real depth to it. I think people are going to be surprised when they see it and I think that that point of differentiation that you've never seen a comic book adaptation in the film world like this is something that audiences are going to grasp onto.
IGN: Clayface is set in Gotham City. James has said it's in the DCU. How much of that should the fans actually take to heart? Will this be what Gotham City is going to look like when you finally make Batman: The Brave and the Bold?
Peter Safran: What we've always said is that there's a consistency to the look but the next filmmaker that tackles Gotham, they [can] use it as a starting point, they can all feel different. I think each filmmaker, just the way great comic book creators treat stories differently within the same worlds and with the same characters in the comic books, we want each film to have its own reflection of the vision of the filmmaker. Listen, Gotham is a grittier, dirtier place, for example, than Coast City and I don't think, suddenly, Gotham's not going to become Paris, and so I think that that's always going to be consistent.
But I think, actually, [Clayface director James] Watkins did a really good job layering in the darker, grittier feel, but with also a slight glimpse like when you're inside his apartment before he gets turfed out of it. But you get a little bit of sense of what money can buy you in Gotham, there's an elegance to it as well, a Beaux-Arts brilliance to it that can exist but we all know that Gotham is a little dirty, is a little gritty, is a little dangerous.
IGN: Now that Lanterns has wrapped up Season One, what is the plan for DC on television at this point?
Peter Safran: Well, we're obviously in production on Gorilla Grodd right now, we have a number of other properties that we're really excited about that we're in development on. The episodic world is always going to be a really important part of our overall slate. It's a great way to tell stories that need more real estate than a feature film can offer you, and it's a great way to introduce characters that we then bring into the feature world. And I think that Aaron Pierre and John Stewart are perfect examples of that. We introduced him in Lanterns and audiences will see him next summer in Man of Tomorrow. So, it's really important to us in continuing to tell aspects of the story that we're not telling in the feature film world so there's more to come.
Listen, we'll see what happens with Lanterns Season Two. If, I think, the collective group of HBO and DC and Chris Mundy and the team all feel like we've got something that is a worthy successor to quite a beloved first season of television, then I wouldn't be surprised to see more.
IGN: But Lanterns Season Two is not green lit?
Peter Safran: No.
IGN: What project do you think will be the next after Gorilla Grodd to go before cameras?
Peter Safran: There are a couple that are vying for that spot, but we haven't firmly committed to what the next one will be in either film or television. We have a pretty robust slate of animation that's all going forward right now but, on the live-action side, it's a little bit TBD.
IGN: Obviously, just from a marketplace perspective, you don't want to have dueling Batmans out there.
Peter Safran: No. Listen, we know that we've got Batman: Part Two and [the animated film] Dynamic Duo in 2028. Listen, I couldn't be more excited about the plans that we have over the next five years and, obviously, a lot of them, we're just not able to talk about yet, but I think you're never going to please everybody, but I have a feeling that people are going to be excited about what we have coming up. And, again, Batman: Part Two, everybody's aware of the issues we're having right now, but, what we've seen so far of the shoot, it looked absolutely fantastic and Matt Reeves is a supremely talented filmmaker. Dynamic Duo is, for my money, as original today as Pixar was when they did Toy Story so we're really excited about that. Obviously, Man of Tomorrow's in post [production] right now.
IGN: On that television front, you did announce some interesting animated projects at the Annecy festival. What can you tell us about where some of those are right now?
Peter Safran: Somewhere in early stages. Absolute Batman, (Scott Snyder’s) just working on the scripts right now. Mr. Miracle, I think that Tom King really learned a lot in his season of co-creating and executive producing Lanterns and he adapted his book Mr. Miracle fully on his own, wrote all eight episodes and I think it's just dynamite. Josh Hutcherson as Scott Free and Mackenzie Davis as Big Barda. And I just think it's a book that I've always loved and I remember Tom telling us early on that, every convention he goes to, at least a couple people come up to him and say this book saved my life and I love that we got to tell that story over eight episodes. And it's just a beautiful story about, “How do we survive in today's world knowing that we're never going to truly know the answers to the big questions in life?” It's a beautiful book and the adaptation is fantastic so we're excited about that.
IGN: And that Joker anime sounds really interesting.
Peter Safran:Yeah, that's one of the earlier phases of development, working on the scripts right now. The ones that are really advanced are Creature Commandos Season Two, Mr. Miracle, My Adventures with Green Lantern, Starfire and DC Superpowers. Those are all creatively way down the road. So, we're really excited because we love animation, we love the art form and the fact that we're going to have such a robust slate coming out is fantastic.
IGN: When do you think the marketing push and reveals will start happening for Man of Tomorrow?
Peter Safran: I think it's early days, it's early days. That's something that we'll determine in the coming month.
IGN: Has David Ellison mentioned at all any ideas or changes in how to market the DC movies or no?
Peter Safran: No, not yet. But, remember, the whole thing's a week old, it was literally last Tuesday.
IGN: They just painted the Warner Bros. water tower.
Peter Safran: Yeah, it's early days. But it's a coming home for us with [theatrical marketing and distribution executive] Josh Goldstine though to have him back involved in our movies as head of marketing and distribution and he's terrific, super smart and we've got a great relationship with him. So, I think that everything's to be discussed as we move forward. But, listen, they're already jumping in on Clayface, everybody's excited about that release and so it's great to be able to talk to Josh again about our business.
IGN: Has James Gunn decided the next movie he's going to direct yet?
Peter Safran: He has not.
IGN: He could probably use a bit of a breather, I suppose.
Peter Safran: He really loves what he does. There was that time where he was writing the full season of Creature Commandos and writing and directing Peacemaker Season Two and prepping the first Superman movie. So, he's got a never-ending enthusiasm and excitement for what we're building so I wouldn't expect him to take too much time in between Man of Tomorrow and whatever he does next.
IGN: I want to be very delicate about how I ask this. Is there any scenario where Batman: Part Two doesn't start filming again?
Peter Safran: No.