Movies & TV / Columns
Genndy Tartakovsky Speaks w/ 411 on Returning for Hotel Tansylvania 3, the Ending of Samurai Jack, and Letting Go of Popeye
411mania recently had the opportunity to interview the legendary director, animator and artist Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of such shows as Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, Titan Maximum and Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003). In 2012, Tartakovsky made his theatrical directorial debut with the hit CG-animated feature, Hotel Transylvania, along with its 2015 sequel. For Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Tartakovsky is doing triple-duty, as director, co-writer and also voice-actor, portraying the fan-favorite character of Blobby.
Speaking to Tartakovsky at Sony Pictures Animation in Culver City, California, he was extremely candid about the events that brought him back to the Hotel Transylvania, when it looked like he was all but done with the series after the second film. He also spoke about his long-awaited return to the seminal animated series, Samurai Jack, which finally saw its conclusion with a fifth and final season that debuted on Adult Swim last year, and fans were finally given a conclusion to Jack’s long and torturous quest to get back to the past.
Here’s what the legendary animator had to say about Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, the return of Samurai Jack and why he serves as voice-over director for his own projects:
Jeffrey Harris: I was at the Sony Pictures Animation Slate preview event where Hotel Transylvania 3 was announced. And when you came out, while I didn’t say it out loud, mentally I was thinking, “What the hell?” Because as you said earlier, “I’m done.”
Genndy Tartakovsky: *Laughs* Yes.
Jeffrey Harris: So what lined up to bring you back to the franchise?
Genndy Tartakovsky: A big part of it was the family cruise. Before that, they wanted me to do it of course. I did say no. And especially because they were doing some international heist idea and stuff, and so I definitely wasn’t into that. And then doing [Samurai] Jack, I got the flavor of TV again — my own thing. And then I found because I would be able to write it. That was a big part of it too. Because look — I’ve been doing my own stuff for a long time, so the first two movies were much more challenging because it’s not my writing. And so, I can’t control it as much as anything else that I’ve worked on. That used to be the norm for me — I am the boss. It’s my vision. As an artist, I’m sure you don’t want people changing your words, right? And that’s kind of how it feels because it’s art. So, it was hard on me to go through the first two movies like that.
With the third one, the situation was Adam [Sandler] was really busy, so he’d be much more hands off. And I’d be able to write it with Michael McCullers, who’s a co-writer. Everything started to line up well. I liked the idea, and everybody liked the idea. So, it seemed like a much easier road.
Jeffrey Harris: Elephant in the room and all cards on the table, the other reason I was surprised you came back was because of the whole thing with Popeye.
Genndy Tartakovsky: Right.
Jeffrey Harris: Were there any difficult emotions or any hurt feelings with Popeye that you needed some distance before you made the decision to return?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It’s super-complex because Popeye was also wrapped into the [Sony] hack. Right? At that middle — towards the end of the second movie, the hack happened. Popeye was not getting — I was realizing they were never going to make it. And even my next project that they sold me, Can You Imagine, with now the shift of executives, wasn’t going to happen. So, there was a lot going on at the end of that second movie. And yeah, it was rough. And look, I know this is a business. Nobody — if they don’t want to make a movie, I can’t force them to make the movie. So I don’t take it that personally. I just wish they were more upfront about it, and just say like, “We’re never going to make Popeye unless he’s got a backwards baseball cap and sunglasses on. We don’t really want to do Popeye.” That’s kind of what happened, and then I realized it. It is what it is.
Jeffrey Harris: I got to say though that miniseries for Samurai Jack — I’m just so grateful.
Genndy Tartakovsky: Oh, thank you.
Jeffrey Harris: When I first saw Samurai Jack it was life-changing. And I really thought I was going to be dead in the ground before we ever saw Samurai Jack on TV again.
Genndy Tartakovsky: *Laughs*
Jeffrey Harris: That miniseries coming together, did a window open up to enable that? Did someone call you? How did *that* happen?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It was years of this — what you just said. Anything that I did, any press interview, any teaching that I did, any lecturing, the first thing anybody wanted to do — it used to be [people asking], “Are you going to make a movie?” And, “Are you going to send him home?” Or finish it, right? Jack was one of those things where it seemed every year it got a little more popular in some crazy way. Even generationally because it was like 15 years in between this new season. So, I finished Hotel [Transylvania] 2. I started looking around for jobs. I got in bed with DreamWorks for a little bit, and it wasn’t going well. Then I’m like, “You know, people are on me for this. Maybe it’s time to do it.” So I wrote an e-mail to Rob Sorcher, who is the head of Cartoon Network, and I say about that much. And he goes, “Well you know, Adult Swim is now at eight o’clock, so maybe it should be more for them.” And so Mike Lazzo, who used to be my boss, is now at Adult Swim. He called me, and all he said was, “How many and how much?” He never asked me about the story or anything. And I said, “Well, I think think at this budget, maybe 10-12 [episodes].” And then he called me back the next day, “We can afford 10.” And then, my deal was done in two weeks, and we started writing.
Jeffrey Harris: And I think you brought your whole staff back for the final season?
Genndy Tartakovsky: For the most part, yeah. We had a really small staff. The big difference was Rough Draft — in Korea — they did the first four seasons. They didn’t do it. They only ended up doing one episode, and I had to use a different studio. But funny enough, there were a lot of people from Rough Draft that did it. So that was the big difference.
Jeffrey Harris: Going back to Hotel Transylvania, I think what is so good about them is that I see you in the entire presentation. In the movement, in the eyes, and the designs. I don’t think you always see that with CG animation, getting a director’s personal stamp on the execution. Was that part of the process important to you?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It’s huge, yeah. I always used to say, “You could tell an [Alfred] Hitchock movie from a David Lean movie,” right? And only those people can do those movies for the most part to feel like, “Oh yeah. That felt like a Hitchcock or a Scorcese or whatever.” Not that I’m in that category, but as an animation director, you can’t tell from a DreamWorks to this movie to — all the Disney movies have blended together — so the director becomes absent. The vision becomes absent. I was like, “No.” And also for job security, I should provide something that nobody else can. So, I started to develop whatever I do. And for the movies, it was hard for the first two, especially because there’s executives, Adam Sandler — there’s a lot of people involved. So you’re voice becomes diluted a bit. And really the animation and the visuals that I could retain it. And in this movie, when you see the breadth of it, it’s like, “Oh my god. That’s so obviously Genndy.” Especially at the end, we have this gigantic action sequence that’s really going to surprise people because it is at 11.
Jeffrey Harris: In the presentation we saw today, we got to see some really impressive and imaginative set-pieces, such as the Kraken, the Bermuda Triangle and the Atlantis resort. How much fun was it for you and your staff to conceptualize those set-pieces and bring them to life?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It was super fun to have Atlantis and do a Vegas version of it is a fun idea. It almost feels like it exists already. And the Bermuda Triangle was one of those things where I was writing, and I was like, “Oh yeah. How is that going to look?” And I go, “Oh yeah, right. It’s going to be a triangle in the water, and it’s going to be a waterfall, and everything gets stacked up.” So, they’re cartoony ideas, but one of the big differences also in the movie is I got Scott Wills as my production designer. Scott’s the one who did Jack, Clone Wars, Titan Maximu, and everything that I’ve done. He brought this element of color and a stronger way of lighting. All of the sudden, the movie’s just lit up with color. It has a great feeling to it.
Jeffrey Harris: Since we’re in an era where a lot of things we loved in the past are getting revived. So with that in mind…what about Sym-Bionic Titan? I believe the show was ahead of its time and would fit so much better in today’s marketplace with the way content is delivered.
Genndy Tartakovsky: *Laughs* Yes. Yeah, I think that’s exactly. It was a little bit ahead of its time. The network, they were in the wrong headspace during it. They thought it was going to be Ben 10, Generator Rex or whatever. It was so much more and different than those shows are. It’s funny because a similar thing happened with Jack when we first did Jack, and they didn’t know where to put it. So they played around with it all over the place. They had enough confidence to do four seasons, where [with Sym-Bionic Titan] Cartoon Network didn’t. Because they were like, “Look. You don’t have a toyline. We’re not going to do anymore action shows with no toys.” So, it was gone. We have 10 amazing scripts that we haven’t produced on Titan. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s going to come back. Now with Pacific Rim, it’s a similar thing…
Jeffrey Harris: Netflix!
Genndy Tartakovsky: Maybe Netflix. *Laughs* I don’t know. There may also be some business things where they may have written it off. I don’t even know technically.
Jeffrey Harris: Let’s get Mike Lazzo of Adult Swim on the phone.
Genndy Tartakovsky: He’s all for it. It’s more about me doing it. The thing is, also, Jack had a recent comeback. He wasn’t just like a revival. It’s like, yeah, I’m getting yelled at. I better finish this story. Right? It felt like there was a fervor to finish it, and the ratings proved it. It almost became less of a cult and a little bit more mainstream as far as Adult Swim and the cartoon world goes. I’ve got new things. I’ve been sitting on some ideas that are now starting to come up and rise.
Jeffrey Harris: Can you share any of those ideas yet?
Genndy Tartakovsky: I can’t share. Yeah.
Jeffrey Harris: Can you say if your next project will be in the TV realm or in features?
Genndy Tartakovsky: I’m not sure. I’ll tell you one thing. I did really enjoy doing a movie, then doing a TV show, and then coming back to a movie. It felt really good.
Jeffrey Harris: Are you interested in live-action at all, or do you feel comfortable in the animation space?
Genndy Tartakovsky: I do. I mean like I worked on Iron Man 2. That was a really good experience, and I saw that I could easily handle that. It has to be the right project. After the second movie, I opened myself up to live-action. So, I took a bunch of meetings, got a bunch of offers, and it was all bad. It was all stuff not for me. Right? Especially for my first one — I could be like a normal director, make a good wage and direct random movies, but I wanted to make an imprint, just like I have with animation.
Jeffrey Harris: So, the next Star Wars Anthology film. What’s it going to be?
Genndy Tartakovsky: *Laughs* Yeah, I don’t know.
Jeffrey Harris: For Hotel Transylvania, you’ve brought in the monster hunter characters. The previous films played around with the monsters being misunderstood, or the monsters misunderstanding humans. So with the third movie, is it a great opportunity to play around with how monster hunters might still misunderstand the monster heroes?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It is. It totally is. The one thing we didn’t show a lot of is Van Helsing because we see him young. And the next time we see him, he’s just this head in a mechanical body. And it’s super-creepy and funny and weird. He is full of rage and hate, and she’s [Ericka Van Helsing] spawned from that. Then, she gets to see Dracula in a new light as she’s trying to kill him comedically. She realizes he’s just like her. They’re all human. She has this big character arc through the movie, and he gets to witness it.
Jeffrey Harris: I think parents are going to love the seen where the werewolves drop off their cubs at daycare. How many cubs do you think Wayne and Wanda actually have now?
Genndy Tartakovsky: We always used to say they have about 300.
Jeffrey Harris: *Laughs* It looks like they have about 3,000!
Genndy Tartakovsky: Yeah. She’s always pregnant. They’re always having new litters. It just never ends. We’ve had a few screenings, and for sure, that goes over really big.
Jeffrey Harris: Mel Brooks was one of my favorite characters in the second film, and I was really happy to see him back as Vlad for the third film. I can only imagine how big of an influence he was on you growing up, so how great was him to have him back?
Genndy Tartakovsky: Oh yeah. I mean Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, it formed all my humor. I work Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, all these people, [and I] never got nervous. [It was] Always very normal. With Mel Brooks, I’m always sweaty because he’s an icon. He’s 92 and still super-quick, super-sharp. How am I going to direct him? But he’s very nice. And he knows that I respect him so much, and he puts me under the fire a little bit. He’s like, “Give me a line reading.” I’m like, “What?! I’m going to give you a line reading?!” I do it because I have to. And he’s like, “OK. I see what you’re saying.” And then he does it. But yeah, he’s amazing.
Jeffrey Harris: One thing I noticed in the credits for the new season of Samurai Jack was that you were also the voice-over director for the voice actors. Did you direct the voice-over work from the original?
Genndy Tartakovsky: I did. From the days of Dexter, I did it.
Jeffrey Harris: I don’t know many shows where the creator also handles the voice-over direction. Is that unusual for a creator?
Genndy Tartakovsky: It definitely is because usually there’s a voice-over director. When I first started on Dexter’s Laboratory, we had a one back in the day, when it was Hanna-Barbera. And she would be like friends with all the voice cast. What would happen is she would try to get them to rush through it. They’re booked for four hours. She would make them go through it fast, so they would get out early. I’m like, “I’m not getting half the lines the way they should be. Why are you rushing through? They’re getting paid for four hours of work. If we finish early, we finish early. But we shouldn’t be striving to finish early.” So, I really didn’t like it. Then, it was like a communication thing. She doesn’t know the way the [story] board is or what the joke is. It was like, “Do it with more energy,” “Do it angrier,” or “Do it funnier!” I was like, “No. That’s not the way it is at all.” I was really dissatisfied with the process. Then I said, I want to do it. Then, they let me do it, and I started to get the performances that I wanted. And I’ve done it ever since.
Jeffrey Harris: For Samurai Jack fans, are all of Jack’s friends or did they disappear?
Genndy Tartakovsky: Now look. It’s time travel and time paradoxes, everyone’s got their own perspectives on it. For me, if we watched it, it existed. It existed, and it doesn’t get erased. It already happened. It’s not like it never happened. It did happen. And from an experiential sort of view.
Jeffrey Harris: When people go see Hotel Transylvania, what is the main thing you want them to take away from the experience?
Genndy Tartakovsky: I want them to take away the humor, have a good time. In its scope, it’s like a comedic
spectacle and to just really enjoy themselves. If I can get a good five-to-ten laughs, I think that’s worth the money.
Jeffrey Harris: Thank you so much. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Genndy Tartakovsky: Awesome. Thanks.
Thank you to Genndy Tartakovsky for taking the time to speak with us, and thanks to Sony Pictures Animation for having us on the lot to check out Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. The new sequel arrives on July 13, which is also Friday the 13th.