DC Studios' James Gunn and Peter Safran detail new boss David Ellison's long-term plans.

"We really took him to the tent and talked about where we see him going over the next few years, so he has a very good understanding of what we're trying to do," explained DC Studios president Peter Safran.

DC Studios lifted the veil from Clayface on Tuesday night at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles. The world premiere was exciting for audiences eager to see how the comic book villain's origin story would play out on the big screen, but it was also an important occasion for DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.

Clayface is the third official film in their continuity in the DC universe - after the good success of Superman and the big failure of Supergirl - and the first film released under new boss David Ellison after Paramount bought blockbuster Skydance from Warner Bros. Discovery to form the new mega-entity Skydance. The red carpet event was Gunn and Safran's first public appearance since being told to "keep doing what you're doing" by inviting Ellison to stay on in their posts as co-chairman and CEO of DC Studios. These two report directly to him.

'Clayface' Director James Watkins on 'Why He Tested 'In Hell' Star Tom Rhys Harris'

Needless to say, this issue came up as a topic of conversation during their respective interviews with The Hollywood Reporter.

"It's exciting," Safran said of Skydance's new era. James and I had this bigger story we wanted to tell when we started four years ago. We were just starting to say that, so the fact that we now have the opportunity to do this with even more resources, with even more access, is really exciting for us. There's a lot to come."

Journeys include Rolling Stone, which includes the recently released full season of Lanterns, Clayface, Man of Tomorrow in post-production with Gunn at the helm, Batman II in production (with Steven Soderbergh jumping in to help Matt Reeves), The People v. Gorilla Grodd in production, and more TBD.

Safran, who said that during their time with Ellison, unveiled a deeper look at their DC plans, we just have a feeling there's a lot more going on. "We've really taken him into the tent and talked about where we see him going over the next few years, so he has a really good understanding of what we're trying to do and he seems to buy into that idea."

"David knows everything," Gunn added. We told David a long time ago and we reviewed the basic plan. "When he first brought us in and said he wanted to continue what we were doing, we told him everything we wanted to do [and] talked about what was going on, the secrets, where the DCU was going and what was going to happen from Man of Tomorrow onward."

But Clayface debuts in theaters on October 23 and the initial response online is positive. Written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini and directed by James Watkins, Clayface focuses on a Hollywood movie star named Tom Hagen, who is severely disfigured after a violent attack orchestrated by a Gotham mob boss. Desperate to reclaim that beautiful life, Hagen undergoes an experimental procedure at the hands of a scientist (Naomi Aki) who at first is only looking for a terrifying new reality with skin reshaping. Chaos ensues.

Safran was very pleased with the detail in which Watkins' film was listed. He said of the film, which stars Tom Rhys Harris, "We've always talked about the idea that a DC slate should have an incredible range of tones, voices, scales, dimensions and budget levels. The fact that we can make a DC movie that's pure body horror is a dream come true." James [Gunn] and I are both into horror backgrounds. The fact that we could make a horror movie and wrap it in DC packaging with the great mythos of a classic Batman villain, that's really what we did. James Watkins did it perfectly. If you don't know the character, if you don't like the character, you don't like it. Horror movie.”

Producer Lynn Harris, who is Reeves' producing partner, was a longtime executive at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. before moving on to produce the film. That means he made many changes to the company's structure and, like Gunn and Safran, was optimistic about the new Skydance regime, which includes Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein as co-chairmen.

We have new bosses. It is shifting and changing and always is. There's always been that moment of, 'Oh my God, there's a new buyer.' or “Oh my God, there's a new owner. Are we shrinking? Is the cinema business forever challenged?" And the truth of the matter is that they love David Ellison, Dana, Josh."

Watkins was equally impatient. "It's all noise outside," he said. "All I can do is make the best film I can and the rest is out of your control. But I'm excited for the film. We've been getting good responses and I hope it really connects with people."