Jon Watts is best known for directing the Tom Holland-starring “Spider-Man” movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing a youthful charm to the franchise, which he most recently replicated in the jovial Disney+ “Star Wars” series “Skeleton Crew.” So one might be surprised to learn that Watts began his career directing a dark, low-budget, horror film produced by Eli Roth.
“I was definitely not aspiring to make uplifting action comedies,” Watts tells Variety, reflecting on his unlikely career trajectory.
Watts’ first feature, “Clown,” is a body horror film that he co-wrote with his regular writing partner, Christopher Ford. The film began as a fake trailer that he and Ford released on YouTube in 2010, introducing the premise of a father who dresses up as a clown for his kid’s birthday party, only to find the costume unremovable and eventually possessive of his body and soul.
The fictitious trailer says the film is “from master of horror Eli Roth,” even though Roth had absolutely nothing to do with their project. But when the video went viral, Roth reached out to Watts directly, inviting him and Ford to Los Angeles to pitch the project as a real movie. Roth joined “Clown” as a producer and Watts and Ford wrote the feature, expanding on the faux-trailer’s premise.
The real “Clown” added context and lore to the story Watts and Ford had concocted, explaining the clown suit’s supernatural abilities by having the costume be made of flesh from an ancient Nordic demon called the Clöyne. In order to survive, the Clöyne attaches itself to a host by way of the suit and feeds on children — one for every month of winter. Roth secured financing for the film, pre-selling domestic distribution rights to Dimension Films ahead of production. He also ended up costarring in the film as the Clöyne — alongside Andy Powers as the hapless father, Laura Allen as his terrified wife and Peter Stormare as the previous owner of the costume.
Upon release, “Clown” fared well overseas, $4.3 million. However, Dimension did not release it in the U.S. until 2016, putting it in a severely limited release; it grossed $55,000. By that point, Watts’ sophomore feature, “Cop Car,” had already premiered at Sundance. Focus Features released the film — about two teenagers who hijack an abandoned police car and become the targets of a corrupt sheriff — in 2015, and it got the attention of Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, who hired Watts to direct 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” After stepping away from superhero filmmaking, Watts and Ford created “Skeleton Crew”; Watts also directed the 2024 Apple TV feature “Wolfs” starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and in 2025, he returned to the horror genre to produce “Final Destination Bloodlines.”
Eleven years after “Clown” first played in theaters, the film that started it all is getting its flowers, as German distributor Turbine Medien is rereleasing the movie as a remastered Blu-ray on Nov. 13. Watts spoke with Variety to reflect on the rerelease and his career over a decade since the debut feature.
What led to this rerelease of “Clown” 11 years after its initial premiere?
I have no idea. To be honest, I got a call out of the blue from this amazing company in Germany called Turbine. They loved the film. This guy, Phil Friedrich, said that they wanted to do a 4K Blu-ray HDR upscale and remaster all of the sound and create all this custom artwork and make a behind the scenes documentary. I couldn’t believe it. They’ve done similar things with some amazing films. They did some really great Cronenberg rereleases. I was very honored and very surprised, because I hadn’t really thought that much about “Clown” in a long time. Its original release was honestly a low point because it was initially shelved in the US. It got an international theatrical release in some territories, and then the Weinstein Company reluctantly released it in the US. It went from being promised a big theatrical release to almost nothing. So to finally have someone be genuinely excited about releasing the film and making sure it looked and sounded as good as possible was a really nice feeling.
“Clown” famously began as a fake trailer. What compelled you to make it and then put it on YouTube?
I wish I could say that this was all part of some master plan to get the film made, but it all happened purely by accident. It was 2010. My friends Christopher Ford and Jake Schreier, and a whole group of us from NYU had a YouTube page where we would post dumb little shorts and videos. This was before people were really monetizing videos. We were literally just doing it for fun, trying to keep our film school world alive. It was around Halloween, and Comedy Central just passed on a show that we were trying to make over there, so we were depressed and we had this idea to see if we could fool the followers on our YouTube page into thinking that we had made a real feature. We had always been joking around about this movie called “Clown,” which we just tried to make as horrible as possible. We tried to outdo ourselves, thinking of the worst, most disturbing premise for a movie that we could. That was part of the joke. We were like, “Let’s shoot this and really try to make it look like a legitimate film.”
How did you decide to put Eli Roth’s name on it?
As I was editing it, the idea of putting a big filmmaker’s name on it came up. We thought the bigger the name, the more convincing it could look and maybe we would actually trick people for our Halloween prank. It was down to Eli Roth or David Cronenberg, because we knew that either one of those names would imply a level of disturbing body horror. I picked Eli because I’m a big fan, and I could imagine him making a film about a man transforming into a clown and eating children. I put his name on it, listed me and Chris Ford as co-writers and put it online purely just to see if we could pull off this prank. The next day, it had thousands of views and all these comments about how amazing it looked.
Then I got a warning that Eli saw the trailer and that he was going to call me. When he finally called, I was like, “Please don’t sue me, sir. It was just a joke. We’re big fans.” But he was like, “No, this is actually really cool. Do you have an idea for a feature?” I lied and was like, “Yes, absolutely. We have the whole thing worked out.” He invited us to L.A. to pitch it a week later, so we scrambled to come up with a treatment, but it turns out we’d been talking about it for so long that we had already worked out a lot of it. We pitched to Eli and he said “Great, can I take the trailer and see if I can get you guys some funding?” It didn’t take him very long. He took it to the American Film Market, got some financiers attached, and then we wrote the script. Before we knew it, we were up in Ottawa shooting in the winter. It was crazy. It happened so quickly. It was like winning the lottery.
What’s it like to rewatch the film today?
It was nice to be able to rewatch it with a little bit of distance. The big joke we had after we made it was that we didn’t really make a horror film about a man turning into a clown. We made a psychological thriller. Looking back at it now, I’m like, “Oh, I should have leaned into the horror a little bit more.” It’s more of a character study than anything else. In retrospect, that was part of the joke, that we took this really ridiculous premise so seriously. But now I watch it, and I think I wish that I’d had enough time to really extend some of the kill sequences to be even crazier. I still see a lot of potential in the premise, so when I watch it now, I’m like, “Oh, we could have done so much more there.” I’d love for it to be like “Evil Dead 2.” I’d love to tell the same story, but jump off to even crazier places.
Have you ever thought about making a sequel to “Clown”?
Yeah, Ford and I have it all mapped out. We’d want to do seven of them, make it a real long-term franchise like “The Leprechaun” or something like that. There are a lot of facets to the story that we’re still interested in telling, because it’s great. It’s kind of an evergreen premise where anyone can put on the suit.
You had the chance to work in franchise horror as a producer on “Final Destination Bloodlines.” Do you think you’ll continue to work in that franchise’s future? Would you ever want to direct a “Final Destination” movie?
I really enjoyed producing “Final Destination,” but it’s a lot of work to direct one. It’s a very difficult task because you have a limited amount of time to design and pull off these really intricate sequences. So it’s nice to be just the producer and not carry the full mantle of responsibility. I also get to still be a big fan of the movies.
You’ve also had the opportunity to create franchises in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the “Star Wars” universe. What did you learn working on “Clown” that translated to these big-budget projects that feel so different in tone and scale?
No matter how big or how small of a film you’re working on, at the end of the day, it’s always reduced to what story are you trying to tell with the image and frame. For “Clown,” I storyboarded the entire movie, every shot from beginning to end, and put together an animatic, recorded all the voices and watched it. I made that film ten times in my head, then on paper and then on the computer before we shot a single frame. And that’s how I still do it. That process that I developed on “Clown” is how I always do it now.
Were you able to do that process working on “Skeleton Crew” even though it was several episodes?
Yeah, even more so actually. We fully storyboarded and created animatics for every episode. I did all the voices and then we were able to add an additional step where the directors took it into a motion capture stage and did the 3D previz to literally block the scene. We were able to watch that back and give notes. It really allows you to be as iterative as you would be if it was an animated film. You’re giving notes on pacing and shot framing and even lighting. It gives you a couple of opportunities to get it as right as you possibly can. It’s fun. I think all the directors really enjoyed that process too. It’s a luxury. It’s something that we got to get because it was “Star Wars.” It’s nice to have a little wiggle room to try stuff out.
Do you expect to make more “Skeleton Crew”?
I mean, I love “Star Wars.” I’d love to do anything in the “Star Wars” universe and I think we set it up in a way where the story can continue in a lot of interesting ways.
How about superhero movies? After “Spider-Man,” you stepped away from directing what became “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Would you want to direct in that genre again?
I’m open to anything and everything. I’m not limiting myself in that way. I’m most attracted to original ideas. That’s sort of like the North Star for me — big, original ideas. But there are so many great things already out there that I think you can find a way to make it your own and to make it feel original.
If you were to return to either those franchises, is there a character or chapter in either Marvel or “Star Wars” that you’d most like to create a story around?
Yeah, but I wouldn’t want to say. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of getting a bunch of emails as a producer, saying, “Did you see the thing that Jon Watts said about how he wants to do this?” They’re busy enough as it is. My friend Jake Schreier is doing “X-Men,” though, which is really exciting. I loved the “X-Men” growing up, but it’s fun to just be a fan on the sidelines again.
Have you been able to talk to Destin Daniel Cretton about taking up the directorial reins on “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”?
We talked a little bit at the very, very beginning, but I’m very close to that franchise, so I just had to step back and let everyone do their job. It’s going to be genuinely weird for me going to see that movie for the first time. It’s going to be a really interesting feeling. It’s a passing of the torch and I’m curious to see where it goes.
Because of “Spider-Man” and “Skeleton Crew,” audiences have come to associate you with the action-comedy brand, and they might be surprised to watch “Clown” and find that your debut feature is a pretty dark, adult horror movie. Back then did you aspire to transition towards more uplifting movies, or did the opportunities just present themselves?
I don’t think so. When it’s up to me, there’s always a dark thriller component, like a monster eating children or two kids stealing a cop car and being terrorized by a corrupt sheriff. So, no, I was definitely not aspiring to make uplifting action comedies. I’m pretty genre agnostic. If it’s a great story and if it’s something that I feel like I can really bring something to and elevate, then I’m open to it.
Since you made “Clown,” clown-related horror has kind of taken off with films like “Terrifier” and “It.” What do you think it is about clowns that are so scary, yet enticing?
I don’t know. It’s just a very visceral thing. It’s hard to talk about clowns post-John Wayne Gacy, because before that, there wasn’t the same sort of evil attached to a clown. A clown was genuinely a positive thing that people liked. I think it’s the mask. It’s the creepy level of makeup and the strange smile that is just genuinely disturbing. Like, yes, there’s a person under there, but you don’t really know who it is. I think that’s what always sort of creeped me out. But I still like good, positive clowns too. There are people that are genuinely good clowns that entertain people. I don’t want everyone to think that all clowns are scary, so I feel a little bad for being a part of that. I know some really great clowns, and I feel a little bit guilty for making everyone be scared of clowns when all clowns really want to do is bring joy and smiles.
That’s horror though, taking the familiar and revealing something scary, right?
Yeah, I mean Steven Spielberg ruined the beach for a lot of people with “Jaws.” I think within the seven-part “Clown” series, though, there’s a role for a good clown. We have a pretty detailed outline of everything that we would ever want to do. We’re still treating it like a funny prank that maybe someday will come true. It’s very fun to come up with ideas for clowns. It definitely touches a nerve culturally. If anyone out there is interested in really doing a deep character study of what it feels like to slowly and painfully transform into an ancient clown demon, they know where to reach me.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
