Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Genndy Tartakovsky for Netflix’s Fixed.

The filmmaker discusses initially facing rejection from studios for his R-rated animated movie, the stigma around adult animated films, and the jaw-dropping scene he refused to cut.

Tartakovsky also shares exciting updates for Primal Season 3.

It was a long journey for five-time Emmy Award-winning animator and filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars) to get his passion project on screen. For a year, the creator shopped his finished film, Fixed, around Hollywood, but it turns out, there isn’t a huge market for R-rated animated features — yet. After initially passing on it, Fixed found its champion at Netflix in John Derderian, the streaming giant’s head of animated series. Now, this raunchy but charming romp (voiced by an all-star cast) is premiering this August. In the movie, Bull (Adam Devine), a sly house dog, discovers he’s scheduled to be neutered, and in light of this tragic news, he decides to take the day to hang out with his best buds for one last ball-bearing 24 hours. In addition to Devine, Fixed’s cast features Kathryn Hahn, Idris Elba, Bobby Moynihan, and Fred Armisen. In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Tartakovsky addresses the stigma of adult animated films, suggesting it’s an untapped art, and discusses the long road it took to get Fixed picked up. Tartakovsky also talks about the jaw-dropping “comedy gold” scene that he used as a litmus test when pitching his movie to studios and shares exciting updates for Primal Season 3.
‘Primal’ Season 3 Is Coming

Tartakovsky updates us on some of his in-the-works projects.

COLLIDER: First of all, let me start by saying when we spoke in October, you told me all about Fixed and how it had five laugh-out-loud moments, and you were not lying. I laughed my ass off. GENNDY TARAKOVSKY: Oh, good! I cannot imagine what it’s going to be like with a full audience here watching this. People are going to lose their shit. I have a million questions about Fixed, but you know me, and I like asking about other stuff. When we spoke in October, I asked you about the status of Primal Season 3, and you said this year. What’s the status? TARAKOVSKY: There will be news about it this year, but I don’t know if they want me to talk about it before they actually release this. It’s coming. Do you think it’s going to be announced at Comic-Con? TARAKOVSKY: No. Maybe New York Comic-Con. Oh, so later this year? TARAKOVSKY: Later this year. Black Knight is the other thing we spoke about, and you said that you’re hoping to get it picked up. TARAKOVSKY: Still fighting. Still finding that champion that’s going to believe in it and release it. That’s outrageous.
Why Netflix Picked Up ‘Fixed’ After Initially Passing

The film found its champion.

Image via Netflix

Jumping into Fixed, when we spoke in October, you were like, “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Now, it’s coming out on Netflix. I think it’s the perfect place for this movie. How did it end up at Netflix? Was it soon after we spoke? What went on? TARAKOVSKY: Last January, Netflix passed on it. I’m not involved in those conversations, or who sees it, or anything. I’m not the one leading the charge, so all I know is they passed on it. That’s all I hear. I’m like, “What? Who watched it? Did they see it? How did they see it?” There’s no information, so I’m like, “What can I do?” So we then start trying to sell it all over town, and you’d think because we have a finished movie, and they could sit and have a good reaction to it, that somebody would push it by, but it’s, “Pass, pass, pass, pass.” A few bites, but at the end of the day, still nothing. So, I’m sitting in October and I’m freaking out because it’s one whole year’s cycle, and with comedies, at a certain point you’re worried it might get stale — even though we don’t do a lot of pop culture humor, so I wasn’t too worried about it. But still, you don’t want to be that movie that everybody passed on, and it feels like it’s tainted. So, I’m nervous about it, and the end of the year ended with darkness. Then, in January, all of a sudden, they’re like, “Oh, Netflix is interested. I’m like, “Netflix? They passed on it.” So, basically, the story goes, John Derderian, the guy who runs adult series, saw it, and he loved it, and he championed it through Netflix. I feel like adult animation has become more and more popular over the last few years. Maybe that’s just me from the outside, but I see the numbers behind the scenes on Collider, and I hear buzz. Do you get that sense? TARAKOVSKY: For sure. But this is a different beast because that’s a series. So, Fox is successful, Netflix is successful, and Adult Swim is still one of the most successful stories as far as adult animation goes. So creatively, to grab that 18–49, whatever number, it’s the best success. So all the new shows, the boldest shows, original shows are coming for adult animation series. Adult animation features is non-existent, except internationally. That doesn’t exist. So, that’s where Fixed fell in. So, it’s almost like this is the testing block. Will this work? Well, I need this to work because I want more movies like this.
All the Studios Asked to Remove This “Comedy Gold” From ‘Fixed’

“I wanted it to be very charming and fun, but still kind of raunchy.”

Image via Netflix

In the opening of the movie, I was howling. Then, in the third act, there is a sequence where my jaw was on the ground. I have never seen anything like it. I just couldn’t believe what you put in the movie. At any point, was anyone saying to you, “You cannot do this?” TARAKOVSKY: [Laughs] Up to the point that we sold it. So, wherever I took it out, a lot of times they were like, “Well, we’re interested in this movie, but you’ve got to get rid of this sequence in the third act.” I think we’re talking about the same. We are 100% talking about the same thing. TARAKOVSKY: This sequence was in my very first pitch in 2010. I acted it out and everything. I said in my head, “Whoever understands what the sequence is truly about gets this movie,” because everybody wanted to change it or omit it, and I would say, “No. This is the one sequence in the movie that stands still.” Then, Richard Brener, New Line, was like, “Oh my god, that’s my favorite sequence,” and they got it. That’s the thing. They understood it. So, that was my test to see if the people who are going to support and pay for this thing really understand it, is if they believe in the sequence. It’s earned through the movie. Man, I really cannot wait to talk about it. TARAKOVSKY: By the way, I have watched that scene with the test audiences as we were making it, and it’s very few times you do something that works on so many different levels, and that one is comedy gold. People start giggling, they cover their mouth, like, “What?!” And then there are more laughs and more laughs and more laughs. You don’t get a lot of those.

Also, the opening of the movie has a sequence, not like the third act, but it’s still like, “Oh, wow.” You know what I mean? So, there is a surprising amount of sex in this movie. You get away with a lot. You push a lot of boundaries with this. What do you want to tell people about it? Because I don’t think there’s a trailer out yet, and it doesn’t come out until August. TARAKOVSKY: When you talk about live-action rated-R movies, they get away with a lot. You can have full nudity, sex, you show breasts and butts, and all these things. It’s sometimes pretty intense. And certainly violence and all these things. But when it comes to animation, we don’t show anything. It’s very tasteful, besides the butts and the buttholes. But even when you analyze those, they’re drawn very simply. We could have drawn very detailed anuses and really gotten in there, but that’s not what the humor is for me. I wanted it to be very charming and fun, but still kind of raunchy. That’s the thing. So when you judge it as an R-rated movie, it’s shocking, as an R-rated animated movie. When you look at just what we show to a live-action rated-R movie, it’s nowhere near, right? Completely. TARAKOVSKY: So, I think that’s the thing. I think sometimes your mind makes it worse than it is, which is a good thing. But that’s the thing, you have to trust what you’re watching. It’s tasteful. “Raunchy,” I almost feel, is the wrong word for it. We were actually looking for a word to describe it when we were doing log lines. Is it risque? You don’t know what it is. It is raunchy, but I don’t think it’s gross. Sure. The film has a heart, it very much does, and it just also happens to have a lot of crazy shit.
Adult Animation Should Expand Beyond Series

“This is just a tool. We can do any genre.”

God willing, this is a huge hit, and this opens the door for Netflix to be like, “This is something we can explore.” Do you have other ideas that fit into this realm? TARAKOVSKY: Yeah. Totally. First of all, you know, as a fantasy, you want it to be the support of 2D animation — quality, good, solid, original 2D animation. You want it to be that. As an animation nerd, that’s the hope for me. Then, on the other side of it, we should be open to other R-rated animated comedies as movies. Animators say this all the time: we should have as many different movies as live-action. There should be an animated sci-fi movie. I mean, this is just a tool. We can do any genre. That’s what it should be, and it’s almost getting there in the series space. You’re seeing stuff like Scavengers Reign. It’s like, “Wow! That’s a sci-fi, cool, different thing.” Primal. That’s a whole, unique, other, different type of thing. Then, you have all these different shows. SMILING FRIENDS. That’s a whole other different type of animated show. But features, nothing. You have the four-quadrant movie, and then that’s it. It’s very disappointing because animation allows you to do things that are cost-prohibitive in live-action, and there’s so much more that could be done. Obviously, you feel the same way. TARAKOVSKY: Yeah. I mean, look at anime. What’s always been happening in Japan is they have all types of movies, and they’re all successful. Movies that everybody goes to see. But there’s still this stigma. No matter how much we’ve grown from The Flintstones to The Simpsons to everything now, there’s still that stigma that it’s for kids. I completely agree.
‘Primal’ Season 3 Is Going To Be “Shocking, and It’s Unstoppable”

Tartakovsky gives us the rundown for what to expect in the near future.

Image via Adult Swim

I’m almost out of time, so I do have to ask you, what else are you working on now? TARAKOVSKY: We’re almost done with Primal [Season] 3, which is going to be crazy. People are going to be surprised and shocked. I’m surprised and shocked at what we were able to do. Then, I’m developing Heist Safari, which I presented here last year. That’s getting closer, I think, to getting a green light. I think everybody’s supporting it. I have a couple of other things that I’m fiddling around with. There’s always a movie in development at Sony to see if it’ll make it. I’m still trying to push. I like the idea of pushing. I do have to do one more on Primal Season 3. Primal is incredibly popular. What do you want to tell fans about it? TARAKOVSKY: It’s a new level. Everything that we did in the first season, we upped a bit in the second season, and the third season is even more. I can’t say anything without giving everything away, but it’s just more, and it’s shocking, and it’s unstoppable. At some point, you’re like, “I can’t believe I’m watching this.” Quality-wise, animation-wise, story-wise, emotionally, I don’t want to oversell it, but rarely have I been proud of a project like this. At the end of the day, we’ll have these 30 episodes, and thinking back to Dexter and Powerpuff Girls and even Samurai Jack, how much our quality wavered just because of the process and everything, this is just so solid. And to have 30 solid, incredible [episodes] for a modest budget, I’m really proud of it. Fixed premieres on Netflix on August 13.

Fixed

Release Date

August 13, 2025

Runtime

85 Minutes

Director

Genndy Tartakovsky

Writers

Jon Vitti, Genndy Tartakovsky

Producers

Michelle Murdocca