Kieran Culkin to Voice Disney's Animated Film 'Clay'
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- Walt Disney Animation Studios announced its new original animated film "Clay" during Disney's Entertainment Showcase at D23 on Friday night.
- Kieran Culkin, an Oscar winner for A Real Pain and Emmy winner for Succession, will lead the voice cast as protagonist Flip.
- Flip is a village-appointed mentor described by chief creative officer Jared Bush as someone who "stunk" at mentoring, assigned a student named Mushi — a ball of clay born at the moment of assignment.
- Jared Bush pitched "Clay" as a deliberate subversion of Disney's tradition of "inspiring mentors and their aspirational students," with Flip fleeing at night only to find Mushi is "inescapable and pure chaos."
- "Clay" is slated for a November 2028 theatrical release, marking it as one of several new animation projects Disney unveiled at this year's D23 alongside Hexed, a Tangled live-action remake, Zootopia 3, and The Bluey Movie.
Why it matters: Disney Animation's chief Jared Bush explicitly framed "Clay" as a subversion of the studio's signature mentor-student template, betting an awards-decorated actor in Culkin can sell an original concept in a theatrical pipeline increasingly crowded by franchise extensions like Zootopia 3 and the Tangled live-action remake, all targeting the 2028 window.
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