'Hotel Transylvania' opening doors for veteran TV director

“When it was first presented to me, it felt like the cheap exploitation of a known property. But as I started to think about it, it felt more like a great opportunity to do physical animated humor — to take what we did in ‘Hotel Transylvania’ and multiply it by 10 and really push it and design very physical sequences that aren’t reliant on dialogue.”

As for the other movie in his two-picture deal, Tartakovsky is keeping it close to his chest, but he has revealed that his new relationship with Sony could bode well for the long-awaited big screen adaptation of “Samurai Jack.”

Speaking with IGN, he said, “I've been trying so hard every year, and the one amazing thing about Jack is that I did it in 2001, you know, and it still survived. There's something about it that's connected with people. And I want it; it's No. 1 on my list, and now Bob Osher, the president (of Digital Production at Sony Picture Entertainment), is like 'Hey, let's talk about Jack. Let's see what we can do.' … So it's not dead for sure by any means, and it's still on the top of my list, and I'm trying as hard as I can.”

A native of Utah Valley and a devoted cinephile, Jeff is currently studying humanities and history at Brigham Young University.