Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesWhen Genndy Tartakovsky first pitched Fixed, his new animated comedy feature on Netflix, the adult animation landscape looked very different. It was 2008, and for anyone looking for animation catered towards more mature sensibilities, things were pretty dire. “It was Simpsons, Family Guy, and Adult Swim was just kind of starting,” Tartakovsky recalls in an interview with Inverse.But in the past few years, adult animation has made major strides. Shows like Bojack Horseman and Big Mouth became commercial and critical hits. And Blue Eye Samurai and Scavengers Reign proved animation could be mature and beautiful. But for Tartakovsky, who is best known for creating beloved animated shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars, as well as helming the Hotel Transylvania movies, there’s still a major gap to be filled. Why can’t animated feature films made for adults be as risqué and raunchy as the biggest hit shows?“[Adult animation] now is pretty huge, but it still hasn't broken into the feature world,” Tartakovsky says. “And I think, why can't this audience transfer over?”Enter Fixed, a broad animated comedy that is as raunchy as it can get. The film follows Bull (Adam DeVine), a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who learns he’s going to be neutered in the morning, and runs away with a group of his best friends for one wild night on the town. For fans of Tartakovsky, who has become accepted as an animated auteur thanks to his critically acclaimed work with Samurai Jack, Primal and, of course, his Clone Wars, this may seem like a big departure from his usual style. And while the writer-director acknowledges that the movie is “shocking at first,” it maintains his devotion to old-fashioned, hand-drawn 2D animation. “I love hand-drawn animation,” Tartakovsky says. “I would do everything in 2D if I can.”Inverse spoke with Tartokovsky about the 17-year journey to making Fixed, his thoughts on CG vs. 2D animation, and how he feels about his Clone Wars creations finding new life in recent Star Wars projects.This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.Tartakovsky and star Adam DeVine at a screening of Fixed. | Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesFixed has had a long journey to the screen, with you conceiving of the project more than 15 years ago. I want to ask about the original idea that eventually became Fixed, which was inspired by your friend group. How different was it from the final product of what we got?It started off with my childhood friends. We make each other laugh, and no one makes me laugh like they do. And so the original concept was, how can I take these personalities and this dynamic and translate it into a feature film for adults? This was 2008, and it was called Buds originally. When I went to Sony to pitch it, at the time, I was like: I don't care about the concept, I was all about the characters. If I can build these characters and relationships, that's what people are going to love.So I took it to Sony Animation, and they got it. They loved that idea, and they see what I was going for. But then they said, “Look, we still need a concept. There still needs to be some story.” And then it was one of those things that doesn't happen a lot that in the room lightning struck. And within a second, I said, “Oh, well, what if they're dogs? And one of them finds out he's going to get neutered in the morning, and it's their last night out.” And that was it. And everybody laughed, and they basically bought it, and we started developing it.It all started to happen very organically after that point. But the genesis of it was that.For fans of your more serious works like Primal or Samurai Jack, the raunchy comedy of Fixed might be a bit of a surprise for them. Would you consider Fixed a big pivot for you, or is this something that has always been part of your sensibilities?I think it's always part of my sensibilities. I mean, I love Dumb and Dumber, it's one of my favorite comedies, [I love] the Judd Apatow movies. So those all have great characters and definitely some raunchy things. And so for this, that's where my sense of humor is at. And we're doing R-rated, and we're trying to push the envelope because it's something different and something new. If I went for more subtle comedy, I don't know if it would be recognized enough. And so I had to push it all the way.Tartakovsky acknowledges that Fixed isn’t for everyone. | NetflixIt is shocking at first. I've talked to enough people now, I realized, to me it wasn't, but because I established this kind of nostalgic animation style, it's kind of familiar that people settle i,n and all of a sudden it's like, whoa, okay, this is not anything that I've used to looking at. But once you settle in, it becomes more normal. I don't feel it's a big departure from what I do. There's still a lot of visual comedy. There's definitely more dialogue comedy than what I've been doing lately. But still, I feel it has some of my normal signature. But yeah, it's not for everybody. For sure we knew that going in. So I think my fans appreciate a lot of it, but sometimes it might not be for them, honestly.And do you foresee yourself doing more outright, straight-up comedies in the future?I do. I foresee myself doing everything, hopefully. I love doing comedies; they're super hard. But when you can make an audience laugh or just make one person laugh, it's an incredible feeling. And at the same time, I have other dramatic, action-type stories that also are for adults that I want to keep pushing the envelope. And I think through the years, adult animation's growing, especially when I first pitched this movie in 2008, it was like Simpsons, Family Guy, and Adult Swim were just kind of starting. And now it's pretty huge, but it still hasn't broken into the feature world. And I think, why can't this audience transfer over?So you've worked on both 2D and CG animation, but on the feature film side Fixed is a return to 2D animation for you. Why 2D for Fixed? And how do you feel about the state of 2D animation as CG has become the de facto medium for animation?Well, I think for features for sure, CG's still king. And for television, especially for adult shows, if you notice, they're all 2D, right? So there's this subversive quality to drawings that work for adults. Which is very interesting. And so for this, that's kind of where I started. Besides the fact that that's what I truly love, I would do everything in 2D if I can, because I love hand-drawn animation. And so we started it that way, but I knew I've got everything stacked against me. I've got hand-drawn animation, which nobody wants to see theatrically, supposedly. Then I have an R-rated movie and an original idea.So I thought, well, when I'm selling projects I never want to argue about process. So at one point we decided, well, let's try and see if we can sell this CG. Maybe it's one strike against this gone. And we actually modeled a CG Bull, the main character, and then we had to give him balls. And then now you're in CG, like how many wrinkles? How many hairs do you put in? And it was gross. It was really just not funny anymore. It became kind of just ew. And so we decided pretty quickly, this isn't right. And the caricature of hand-drawn animation just gives you that one more step of removal from the butt holes and the balls and anything gross. It still has a little appeal or charm to it.This image is not censored in the movie. | NetflixI wonder about your thoughts on innovations in CG animation that have recently been popularized by movies like Into the Spider-Verse and other recent Sony animation films. Like you said, this has been a movie that's been long in the making, so these kind of films didn't really exist when you were conceiving of Fixed. What do you think of just how CG is almost becoming more like hand-drawn animation nowadays?Well, I am an animation b*tch. I'm quite the snob about it. Because look, it's my industry. It's what I've loved forever. And what's really interesting and great and frustrating is that mostly because of Spider-Verse. Spider-Verse was so successful in getting this amazing 2D look for CG animation, and they went through everything, so many challenges to get it to be that. At a certain point, from my point of view, I was looking at it and go, just do it 2D. Why are you trying so hard to make this system work here?And so there's this weird dynamic where I guess maybe the audiences are burnt out on the traditional CG look that now they're trying different looks, and so now everybody's going back to 2D. And as a 2D enthusiast and snob, it's like, you know what? You guys stay in your lane and I'll stay in my lane. But I mean, they make it look so good. It's fun to watch. But at the same time, it's like, yeah, let's just do a 2D movie and give me that kind of budget as well, which would be crazy.As a champion of 2D hand-drawn animation, what do you think is so important about preserving this particular method of animation? When CG animation is so popular and it's trying to become more 2D, what's important about preserving hand-drawn to you?Well, I think because it's hand-crafted. In CG animation, there's a main puppet, and then you articulate the puppet and it makes it look great and great animation. But a certain part of the soul from the animator isn't quite there. Then when you draw something, it's so personal. And I think because I'm a fan of drawing, and I would stand for hours and watch people draw when I was a kid, and just fascinated me. And still to this day, watching somebody draw is an incredible thing. And so there's a level of artistry history that is created when you're hand-drawing something or hand-painting something that it's just very pure and clean.And being an animation nerd, I used to love being able to tell who animated what scene, especially in the Warner Brothers or Hanna-Barbera cartoons, like, oh, that was a [Robert] Bobo Cannon scene, or Ken Adams, or Ken Thomas. And so it's that hand touch that kind goes away, kind of gets milked down a little bit, watered down a tad. And so I think that's the magic of it. And I think there's just something about it, probably it's that I keep saying that hand feel, it's the purity of it.Fixed is available to stream on Netflix now.