Genndy Tartakovsky might be your favorite animator in the business, and you don’t even know it. For creators who don’t spend their time on-screen, years of hard work can be beloved by generations, but the masterminds behind it all will continue on to their next project without you ever knowing. In Tartakovsky’s case, he’s changed the animation game through series like Dexter’s Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Samurai Jack, to name only a few. He’s had his hands in countless other movies and shows in a number of ways, and he’s always looking to the future.
At Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) AnimationFest 2024, Tartakovsky was presented with the Award of Excellence for his contributions to the industry. Before receiving his award, the multi-hyphenate animator spoke with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, taking a look back at the cornerstones of his career thus far, as well as discussing what lies ahead for him. For Tartakovsky, always having multiple pots on the burners isn’t an option — that’s just how it is. He tells us, “I gotta stay cutting-edge because there’s an army of young, talented animation people coming up behind me, and I gotta stay ahead of them.” An army of talent he’s happy to inspire, the same way other industry greats like Chris Buckley (Star Wars, Transformers) and Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) did for him.
During this extended interview, Tartakovsky revisits projects like Clone Wars, the work he did on Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 with Jon Favreau, and the Hotel Transylvania franchise. They dig into the status of the animator’s R-rated animated feature, Fixed and Black Knight, both potentially huge steps for expanding how the industry views animation as a whole. In addition to that, Tartakovsky updates us on the status of Primal Season 3 and discusses the idea of returning to previous works like his animated Popeye feature. For all of this and tons more, check out the full conversation below.
The Future of Adult Animation, According to an Animator
COLLIDER: I really want to start by saying thank you for doing what you do. I really appreciate your work and there are so many people out there who can never say thank you to you. I just want to say thank you for doing what you do.
GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY: Thank you.
What do you think would actually surprise people to learn about working in the world of animation?
TARTAKOVSKY: It’s not monotonous. Everybody thinks you gotta draw a little bit each time, and that’s never been monotonous. A creative job has a lot of stress — it has insecurity stress, productivity stress, and acceptance stress. There are a lot of psychological things that go into making a show, especially if you’re a creator, that you have to have a level of confidence to survive because otherwise, it’ll just kind of eat you up. Especially the more and more successful you get, the harder that part of it becomes because you start to question yourself. I think that’s kind of the surprising parts. Everything else is pretty straightforward.
Do you think you post too much on Instagram?
TARTAKOVSKY: Do I? No!
I’m being very sarcastic.
TARTAKOVSKY: [Laughs] Not enough, of course. It’s hard because I wanna put up good stuff, not just nonsense, and so when you’re having, whatever, three or four projects that I juggle plus wanting to do that, it’s difficult.
Oh, I have to force myself to post. You might consider getting an intern.
TARTAKOVSKY: For sure. My daughter does it for me, but I still have to give her the stuff.
So, what does it mean to you to go from wanting to work in this industry to cutting your teeth, to making projects, to going to SCAD, to getting an award?
TARTAKOVSKY: It’s all a little bit surreal in a way, but at the same time, I always feel like I’m at the beginning of my career. I always feel that the next project is an even bigger project, and I’m still striving for a bigger level of success. I don’t know if success is the right word, it’s more about communication, or the next level of people that will watch the show or the movie, or whatever. You want whatever the next project is, whether it’s Primal or whatever it is, to be watched and known by as many people as, like, SpongeBob SquarePants or any Disney film. You want the masses watching, right? That’s always been the goal, not to have a little cult audience or even a big cult audience. You want it to work on all different levels, while at the same time, not compromising what I do. That’s the thing.
So, this award is great and it’s exciting. This is my second or third career achievement award, and each one of these feels like, “But I’m just getting going really doing stuff that’s exciting and different.” And it’s fast. It’s like 32 or 35 years, however long I’ve been working — it’s been a snap.
Yeah, next year is 20 years since I started Collider, and it feels like it has gone by. It’s just on a roller coaster track. The other thing about going to SCAD is that there are a lot of students there that produce good stuff. So when you’re there, and you’re getting an award like that, how much are you looking at what everyone’s doing because you have connections, like, “That’s a really good idea?”
TARTAKOVSKY: I always look at student films and student work. I try to keep up as much as I can. On Saturday, I’m teaching a masterclass, and it’s exciting. I love teaching. I love sharing everything that I’ve learned because you have realizations and revelations through your experiences, and each project comes with new things that I’ve discovered, and to share those is exciting. I used to get inspired, like, Chris Buckley used to come to our school and show us how to animate, and Glen Keane. Those were magical times because they’re my heroes, and for them to share, I always appreciated it. So, I knew if I could ever get to a similar position, I would wanna do that too.
How do you view the current state of animation on both TV and in the movies?
TARTAKOVSKY: Well, number one, I am an animation bitch. [Laughs] I am extremely critical of animation because it is my love. It is my craft. It is everything to me since I was 10. So, I’m very critical of everything that’s being made. I hold it up to a high standard. So, having said that, I think television is exploding, especially in adult animation for sure. There are more and more shows that are now starting to break the barriers, like, before it was The Simpsons, and then everything was like The Simpsons, and now we’re starting to explore drama and action for adults in animation in the television space, and that’s incredible. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been trying to do adult stuff for a long time, so now that’s actually breaking through. That’s super exciting.
In the feature world, we’re still kind of stuck in the same place, mass making stuff for four quadrants, mostly for families and children, and so you’re kind of limited by that. So, we’re still trying to break into something more than what’s been done. There’s a lot of quality work, obviously, and everything is crafted very well, but generally, there are more and more sequels, less and less originals, and that’s hard. I know it’s a business — I’m the first one to understand it — but at the same time, there’s gotta be room for something else.
I completely agree with you, and I’m hopeful that the advances in television and the great stuff that’s being produced will lead to someone saying, “Maybe we can aim at two quadrants or one quadrant and make a feature.”
TARTAKOVSKY: I fully firmly believe that half, if not more, of the audience that goes to see Marvel movies, would go to see a more adult action-drama animated show.
I would be the first one in line.
TARTAKOVSKY: Whatever the Avengers makes — a billion and a half dollars — if we make a billion or even $800,000, that would be a huge, a huge, huge win. So, I think it’s out there, and I feel like there’s a race to who’s gonna be first, you know? I have a couple of projects that are kind of close to breaking the barrier, so we’ll see.
I also think that the secret way in is, just like the success of Deadpool & Wolverine and that being R-rated and how much money it made, the first one has to be something IP-related and doing a completely different take on it and making it for adults, but you’re using IP so people are gonna maybe give it more of a chance for the first thing. This is just me, though.
TARTAKOVSKY: I think that’s very logical thinking. But for me, it’s gotta be original.
By the way, I want all of it. I’m just saying because, ultimately, the executives and getting them to say yes to the financing, they need to see that it can work.
How ‘Clone Wars’ Led to Jon Favreau Recruiting for ‘Iron Man 2’
How did you end up doing the storyboards on Iron Man 2 ?
TARTAKOVSKY: Basically, at the time, I had my own studio, and we were floundering. It was around 2008 and 2009, and couldn’t get any work. It was the recession. I went into Marvel to pitch them an animated superhero series, like, “I can take your characters and do what I did with [Star Wars] Clone Wars.” So I met with Kevin Feige, and we started talking, and he goes, “You know, Jon Favreau is a big fan of yours. Do you mind if he calls you?” And I was like, “Yeah, of course.” And so then Jon actually called, and the animated superhero thing they weren’t really interested in. So, Jon calls and we met for lunch, and he talked about how he really liked Samurai Jack and the way I do stuff. He actually told me that in Iron Man 1 , he would look at the way I structured an action sequence, and he would kind of try to follow it, which was super, super nice.
So, he asked if I could help him with the big action ending on Iron Man 2, and I said, “Yeah, of course.” I just kind of got in there and just did what I did and it was super interesting. That’s as big as it gets as far as filmmaking, and watching him maneuver all the different departments and give everybody what they need and still try to figure out how everything works creatively, it was a giant feat. So, we did the big Japanese garden at the end.
I also would imagine that’s an eye-opening experience for you just seeing behind the curtain.
TARTAKOVSKY: For sure. All the behind-the-curtain stuff is fascinating. It definitely made me realize I could probably do live-action because I could see he’s using the same muscles I use to tell the stories, just a little differently, and obviously a lot more pressure because the investment is huge.
The Creators of ‘Clone Wars’ “Didn’t Get Stuck in [Their] Own Fandom”
When you think back about your time on Clone Wars , what’s the first thing you remember?
TARTAKOVSKY: How fast we did it. We got the call that they might want to do something. We had two weeks to put a presentation together — two weeks — and we just put it together, and we pitched it, and then it was good. Then, it was off to the races. And it’s probably the best way to do it because then we didn’t get stuck in our own fandom, like, “This is what we wanna do. This feels right to us. We’re all Star Wars fans and this is what we want to see as far as an animated version.”
That is not a lot of time. Do you find more people experiencing and wanting to talk to you about the show now that it’s on Disney+?
TARTAKOVSKY: Not that they want to talk to me about it, but I definitely see more people coming to it and realizing it and watching it for the first time, which is great. It still holds up. It’s still really strong. We were all very proud of it. Nobody really understands that we do it for the same budget as, like, a SpongeBob SquarePants [episode], or maybe less than any of those shows. It’s fast, and luckily I’m surrounded by some of the most talented people. They’re all the best at what they do, and so we can do it and execute it very quickly.
What animation on TV are you currently willing to recommend for people to watch? Are there two or three shows that you’re like, “Those are really good?”
TARTAKOVSKY: I saw the pilot for that new Adult Swim show by the guys who did Scavenger’s Reign and Mike Judge. The little pilot clip that I watched was like, “Wow, this is really interesting.” I might be forgetting something, but like I said, my standards are…
You remind me of Tim Miller. He doesn’t like anything. It’s interesting talking to him after he sees something.
TARTAKOVSKY: I feel like my kids are like that to me. They’re like, “Dad, you don’t like anything,” and I try to explain I want more from storytelling than what’s being offered right now. I just watched The Thing again a few weeks ago, and it’s so compelling and so interesting and it’s not bogged down with everything. That movie feels like there are no executive notes. It’s just like a story told. Or a movie like The Sorcerer. That’s what I want. I want a mystery and suspense and great storytelling, and I’m not ahead of everybody in the movie, I’m right with them.
I really want you and Tim Miller to go see a movie together just so I can watch the two of you just complain about everything. It’d be kind of funny.
Will We Ever See This R-Rated Animated Comedy?
What is the status of Fixed ?
TARTAKOVSKY: We’re looking for a distributor. It’s not dead by any means. Sony has it and so they’re looking for somebody to distribute it. It’s a kind of unicorn. It’s a 2D animated, rated-R film, and so they’re trying to find the right partner in a world where they don’t even make rated-R comedies, live-action, for the most part. It’s hard to find somebody to believe in this thing, but I feel like we’re getting closer and closer. So, the status is it’s not dead. It’s not shelved. It’s finding a partner to release it.
Is it completely done and ready to come out, or are you still having to work on it?
TARTAKOVSKY: Completely done. It’s the first time it’s ever happened to me where I finished something, and it’s just waiting.
As a fan of yours, it is very frustrating. I’ll just say it like that.
TARTAKOVSKY: It has so much. It’s not only that I think it’s funny but the animation is just gorgeous. We got some of the best animators in the world to work on it, which was shocking to me. It’s shocking, it’s sometimes raunchy, it’s got heart. It’s got all these elements put together, and we’ve had some screenings where people are laughing so much. It’s so nice. We’ve got five sequences that are always a home run, and that’s a lot. How many comedies have you seen where you can say you laughed so much? But it’s pushing the envelope, and I think that’s what’s holding it back.
But that is the main reason why I’m so desperate to see it because it goes back to what we just talked about. You have a movie that is breaking the boundaries.
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah. It is one of those things. It’s been dark times since it happened. I always think about how anything that’s ended up great always has a journey that’s not great, right? Even something like Seinfeld, where it was almost gonna get canceled, you know what I mean? Star Trek — we know the whole story with that. So, it’s just one of those things, and I hope it has a happy ending. But it’s pushing the envelope. It’s different than anything else. It’s really funny, so you just want people to see it.
We’re on the same exact page.
What is the status of Black Knight ?
TARTAKOVSKY: So, Black Knight, we finished the script. It’s really great. Same thing — pushing the envelope — and now we’re just starting to take it out to see who wants to make it with Sony.
I was under the impression that it’s Sony Animation.
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah.
So you’re doing it with Sony, and then it’s a question of who might want to buy this slash make it.
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah, does Sony want to release it and make it? If they don’t, maybe there’s somebody else. It’s a brand new world out there. Everybody makes stuff for everybody else. That’s what is interesting because before, if Sony didn’t want to make it, that’s it. Then you’re dead. Then maybe you get a turnaround and you start shopping to other studios, but now we could take it to whoever.
Would it be rated R?
TARTAKOVSKY: I don’t think it would be rated R. Maybe a PG-13 or something like that. Or maybe R. I don’t know. It’s right on the cusp. I could push it one way or another. But it’s adult, for sure.
Do you have a logline or what it’s about?
TARTAKOVSKY: I don’t think I’m ready to reveal that yet.
What’s Happening With ‘Primal’ Season 3?
I put on Twitter that I was going to talk to you, and a lot of people wanted to know what the status is of Primal Season 3 is.
TARTAKOVSKY: It’s coming. I’m finishing up the tenth episode right now, and so we got 10 more half-hours. We’re in production, and it’s gonna blow everybody’s socks off, I think.
Are you writing the script right now, or are you animating? Where are you at in the actual production?
TARTAKOVSKY: We’re halfway done with the animation already.
When you say Episode 10, you mean the script?
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah. I’m just finishing up the last episode, and already half of it is already done because it’s all overlapped. Half of it is already animated. We’re doing post on the first two episodes already, so we’re over the hard part. We’re in the heat of production.
Is it safe to say that Primal Season 3 will be released in 2025?
TARTAKOVSKY: I would say yes.
You mentioned that Season 3 would be the beginning of an anthology version of the series. With anthologies, there are so many stories you can do, so just to confirm, Season 3 is all one story, beginning, middle, and end, and then if you got to do a Season 4, it would be something completely different?
TARTAKOVSKY: I’m not gonna answer that.
I don’t wanna get you in trouble.
TARTAKOVSKY: It’s something special. That’s all.
What was your reaction when The Simpsons did a little parody of Primal ?
TARTAKOVSKY: I was so honored. The Simpsons started it all as far as adult animation for the most part. I always feel like they’re in the zeitgeist stuff, pop culture, and so for them to do it, it was a great honor. I was super excited about it. We were at the Emmys a couple of years ago, and one of my friends came up to me, and he’s like, “I was just talking to the Simpsons guy, and they’re gonna do a Primal thing.” And I was like, “What? No way.” And then it kind of just disappeared, so I figured… because I’ve worked on primetime shows, and they go through ideas like this, so I just assumed it would go away. Then all of a sudden, they’re there, and I was like, “Wow, look at that!” So, it was super great. It’s a good surprise. I’m very honored.
I can’t imagine how much your phone blew up that night.
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah, it was exciting.
What ends up costing more in animation than people would expect? For example, if we’re using Primal , just to touch on that, are there certain shots that people wouldn’t expect would cost so much?
TARTAKOVSKY: No. I mean, Primal is complex in its animation because I’ll do longer scenes rather than cutting on the action, like live-action. I’ll try to keep the camera on the action for a long time, so those scenes get to be really hard. So, maybe a shot takes three months to do. I think the time that it takes to do a complicated choreography might be surprising, but as far as cost, everything is pretty much, you know. Obviously, the more complex, the more expensive it is, and the simpler it is obviously it’s cheaper.
I was talking to the directors of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and they were explaining to me how the upside-down shot of Gwen when they’re looking at the city with the hair going the opposite way, ended up being a backbreaker. It was just so interesting because I never would have thought that’s the shot that proved very difficult.
TARTAKOVSKY: Because they’re in CG. When you’re in the CG world, the most ridiculous things that you think are really easy will break the bank, and then a waterfall into a crushing building is cheap. On the Hotel Transylvania movies, I could never figure it out. I go, “I think this will be easy to do.” They’re like, “No, no, no, that’s the hardest to do.” A giant Atlantis coming out of the water, that’s no problem.
“If There’s a Demand for It” There Will Be More Hotel Transylvania
Speaking of, what is the future of Hotel Transylvania ? What’s the status of that quote-unquote franchise?
TARTAKOVSKY: I think there’s gonna be more and more. Oh, it’s great. Look, if there’s a demand for it — I think the fourth one did really well on Amazon — and so I think they want more. So, we’ll see what happens.
Did you ever think when you were making it, “This is the franchise? This is the thing that’s gonna be me with me for over a decade, maybe two?”
TARTAKOVSKY: No, definitely not. No, I was just trying to survive the first one. It’s my first feature that I directed theatrically, and so there’s a lot at a big studio so there’s a lot of elements. Before that, I worked at Cartoon. I worked for over 20 years, and so I only knew one place for the most part, and then you go into a different place and you gotta kind of start all over and get everybody’s trust and all that stuff. So, no, I thought I would be one and done, but no, everything kind of took off. So, it’s good.
Will you be releasing the 10 written scripts of Sym-Bionic Titan online if the show doesn’t return? Also, since Sym-Bionic Titan came back on Netflix a few years ago, is there any way for the show to return on streaming?
TARTAKOVSKY: I kind of wanna release the scripts, but at the same time, I’m sure there’s still an outside chance that maybe we could do it again. But there’s gotta be a bigger demand. When Sym-Bionic Titan was on Netflix, it didn’t get the audience for them to be, like, “We should make more of this.” I think that needs to happen for somebody to pay for it. I don’t know how to do that quite yet because they don’t advertise. It just kind of pops up, and that’s it. So, it’s real hard, but I’m always open to do more. But there’s gotta be a demand. I know there’s a fan base that want more, but it has to be enough for somebody to want to pay for it.
How do you find the stamina both from a sense of creativity and work ethic to juggle so many different projects at once, especially at two different studios?
TARTAKOVSKY: Because I love what I do and because sometimes this is Hollywood, right? So, the reality of Hollywood is one day I could sell a show and maybe the next day, all of a sudden, I’m out of favor, and then I can’t sell the project, and that’s it. My creative career, as far as original storytelling and original shows, is done. So as long as people are still willing to make the things that I come up with, I’m gonna keep after it. At any given time I have between five to seven projects that are out there, right? Some are just in slow development, some are in production, and you never know what’s gonna go. So, one out of seven is a miracle. Alright, two out of seven is. This has never happened before. I’ve just been real fortunate.
We did Unicorn [Warriors Eternal], Primal Season 2, and the beginning of Fixed and Hotel 4 all at the same time. Hotel 4 I was just more executive producer, but I still wrote it and had to have weekly meetings to look over things. So, that probably was the biggest, craziest thing that I’ve ever experienced, to have two TV shows in full-time production. That almost killed me. So, the stamina, stamina, stamina, stamina, I don’t think about it because, boy, am I lucky to sell a third season of Primal. We were finishing up Fixed when that was starting.
I get a development, another movie at Sony, and it’s like I have no choice but to do it because I feel like next week, all of a sudden, “We don’t like the way Genndy tells stories. Let’s get somebody fresher, younger.” I’m 54, so I gotta stay cutting-edge because there’s an army of young talented animation people coming up behind me, and I gotta stay ahead of them.
Genndy Tartakovsky: Past, Present, and Future
Would you tackle a Popeye feature? Would you go back to Popeye if you could get it going?
TARTAKOVSKY: I guess I would. I still love what we did. It really felt like Popeye to me. I just don’t see it happening, but I would, I guess.
Same thing with Star Wars. Are you interested in returning to the galaxy far, far away or do you feel like you did your thing with Clone Wars ?
TARTAKOVSKY: I feel like I did my thing, and I think I’ve moved on.
Sure. Was there any difficulty from transitioning from your art style from 2D to 3D when making Hotel Transylvania , and who helped you with that process?
TARTAKOVSKY: ImageWorks helped a lot. They really understood where I came from and the way I thought, and they made it very easy because I don’t know the technical side and they did it. They did everything that I needed them to do. Nobody ever said no. It wasn’t difficult, it was just shifting my brain to understand what I’m looking at, and it was about a three-month adjustment of my brain to be able to look at CG shots and recognize what they needed or what they lacked, versus when I look at a drawing, I can tell right away. That was a big difference because it’s so fancy and everything looks finished and great, and then I’m like, “Whoa, what am I looking at here?” It’s all done and then you go, “Oh, right. This is too dark, too light, the focus of attention…” The storytelling of the shot is what I needed to focus on.
What are you working on right now?
TARTAKOVSKY: So, Primal Season 3 and two movies in development at Sony. That’s not a lot of work, but definitely one of them is very close. And two other things that I can’t talk about, and another thing that we kind of finished and they’re just waiting to see if it’s gonna go or not.
Oh, so you’re not busy. [Laughs]
TARTAKOVSKY: Yeah, it’s a lot. Even when I talk about it, it sounds ridiculous.