DC Studios filmed Clayface primarily across Merseyside and Greater Manchester in England, with extra coastal sequences captured in Croatia. Most of the practical exterior work centered on Liverpool to create the gritty, neo-noir look of Gotham City.
Cameras rolled between late August and November 2025. Here’s the full filming guide for the upcoming DCU body-horror release.
Director James Watkins and screenwriters Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini leaned heavily on tangible Victorian and neoclassical architecture before moving to Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden for controlled special-effects stages. Fans noticed.
| Scene / Setting | Location | Area | Details from Set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gotham General Hospital & Disaster Plaza | Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts (Derby Square) | Liverpool, Merseyside | Dressed with burned patrol cars, concrete rubble, and broken barricades for a major street disaster sequence. |
| Gotham City Courthouse | Liverpool Central Library & World Museum (William Brown St) | Liverpool, Merseyside | Neoclassical stone portico doubled as the central civic court during an intense press frenzy. |
| Nightclub “Vesuvius” | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Hope Street) | Liverpool, Merseyside | Art Deco concert venue transformed into an elite subterranean Gotham lounge and cocktail bar. |
| Gotham Police Staging Hub | Canning Place (Former Merseyside Police HQ) | Liverpool, Merseyside | Secured staging area housing Gotham City Police cruisers, tactical transports, and mobile broadcast vans. |
| Gotham Docks & Late-Night Alleys | Water Street, India Buildings & Pier Head | Liverpool, Merseyside | Wet asphalt, rain towers, and smoke machines staged atmospheric nighttime pursuits near the docks. |
| Matt Hagen’s Movie Premiere | The Plaza Cinema (Mersey Square) | Stockport, Greater Manchester | 1932 Grade II* listed Art Deco theatre hosted the red-carpet premiere of Hagen’s breakout film before his tragedy. |
| Gotham Railway Arches & Encampment | Castlefield Basin & Railway Viaducts | Manchester City Centre | Victorian brick arches and canal walkways dressed down to depict an impoverished Gotham settlement. |
| Interior Prosthetics & Physical FX Stages | Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden | Leavesden, Hertfordshire | Soundstages 4 and 6 housed facial mold rigs, makeup trailers, and specialized lighting tanks. |
| Hagen’s Coastal Retreat & Flashbacks | Lungomare Promenade, Bale & Krk Island | Kvarner Gulf & Istria, Croatia | Sunlit Adriatic shorelines and medieval alleys providing a visual contrast to Gotham’s constant rainfall. |
Where was Clayface filmed?
Crews set up their primary production base in Liverpool before fanning out into Greater Manchester and the Croatian coast. Filming took place under the secret working title “Corinthians”—a cover moniker coordinated through the Liverpool Film Office to avoid overwhelming downtown streets.
The crew kept a fast pace. They spent nearly eight weeks across Merseyside alone before shifting cast and gear south toward Hertfordshire soundstages.
Which Liverpool landmarks double as Gotham City?
Derby Square carried the heaviest physical disruption. Production designers turned the Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts into the front entrance of Gotham General Hospital, parking scorched ambulances along the pedestrian square while stunt teams rehearsed around debris piles.
A few blocks away, William Brown Street provided instant gothic grandeur. Both the Liverpool Central Library and the World Museum stood in for the Gotham City Courthouse during a dramatic exterior crowd scene.
Hope Street saw late-night action as well. The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall stepped in as the entrance to the high-society Gotham nightclub “Vesuvius”, lit up with amber neon tubes and vintage marquee lettering (which drew plenty of curious onlookers after dark).
Canning Place served as the engine room for the shoot. The former Merseyside Police headquarters car park held dozens of Gotham City Police Department patrol cruisers, tactical vans, and replica news broadcasting trucks throughout September. It wasn’t quiet.
Why did production shoot in Greater Manchester?
Stockport Plaza offered an authentic 1932 Art Deco facade that modern soundstages struggle to match. The crew rolled out a crimson red carpet along Mersey Square, dressing hundreds of background actors in vintage tuxedos and glamorous gowns for Matt Hagen’s fictional film premiere.
It was a massive night for the historic theatre. Local preservation teams worked alongside the film crew to protect the Grade II* listed venue’s historic features while vintage spotlight rigs swept across the night sky.
Ten miles northwest in Manchester’s Castlefield district, the atmosphere changed completely. Technicians set up wet-down rigs beneath the towering Victorian railway viaducts and canal bridges to stage a bleak Gotham encampment. Cold work.
Where were the coastal scenes filmed in Croatia?
Opatija provided the Mediterranean backdrop needed to frame Matt Hagen’s jet-setting life before his grotesque transformation. The camera team spent several days capturing scenic coastal sequences along the historic Lungomare promenade overlooking the Kvarner Gulf.
The unit also traveled inland to the cobblestone alleys of Bale in Istria, finishing their overseas leg with coastal footage on the island of Krk. Crisp autumn lighting gave director James Watkins wide-open vistas that look completely distinct from Gotham’s shadowy grime.
What did James Gunn and Tom Rhys Harries reveal about production?
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn actively engaged fans online regarding the film’s bold standalone direction, defending the choice to make a focused psychological horror movie rather than a standard superhero crossover.
“Who tf asked for Back to the Future? Casablanca? There’s Something About Mary? Pan’s Labyrinth? Fury Road? Weapons? The Matrix? 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.”
— James Gunn (@jamesgunn), DC Studios Co-CEO on Threads and X
Gunn stressed that director James Watkins and writers Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini pitched a story grounded in vintage body-horror. He insisted the project works as an intense standalone film first.
Lead star Tom Rhys Harries celebrated wrapping principal photography with a behind-the-scenes post from the UK set, marking the conclusion of an exhaustive shoot across England and Croatia.
“That is a wrap on Matt Hagen. What a ride across Liverpool and beyond with this incredible crew.”
— Tom Rhys Harries (@tomrhysharries), Official Instagram update
Harries spent months undergoing elaborate practical prosthetic tests to portray Hagen’s physical collapse. The Welsh actor endured up to five hours a day in the makeup chair to bring the shape-shifting comic character to life without relying exclusively on CGI.
Did they film on location or on a studio soundstage?
Both methods split the workload down the middle. Practical urban streets and architectural exteriors were captured entirely on location in Liverpool and Stockport, while Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire handled the interior makeup transformation chambers and sound-sensitive dialogue scenes.
Can you visit the Clayface filming locations?
Derby Square, William Brown Street, and Castlefield’s canal walkways are free, open public areas accessible year-round. Anyone can stroll the exact plaza where the Gotham General Hospital scenes were filmed.
The Stockport Plaza regularly hosts classic film screenings and guided architectural tours. Film fans can easily book tickets to see the 1932 auditorium where Hagen’s red-carpet sequence was shot.
If you enjoy tracking down film sets, check out our guide on Where Was You Can See Everything Filmed? (California & Texas) or explore the European sets in Where Was Masterplan Filmed? All Shooting Locations in France & Italy.
Have you visited any of these Liverpool or Manchester landmarks? Drop your thoughts below.
