Robert Thomas Letterman (born October 31, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut as co-director of the animated comedy film ''

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman, from a screenplay written by Letterman and Michael J. Wilson. The film features the vo ...

'' (2004), for which he received a nomination for the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production. He then co-directed the animated science fiction comedy film ''

Monsters vs. Aliens ''Monsters vs. Aliens'' is a 2009 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman from a screenplay written by Let ...

'' (2009). Letterman has since transitioned into live-action filmmaking, directing the fantasy comedy film ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

'' (2010), the horror comedy film '' Goosebumps'' (2015), and the fantasy mystery film '' Pokémon Detective Pikachu'' (2019).

Early life

Letterman was born in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and attended Mid-Pacific Institute and

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

Career

Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, Letterman directed the short film ''Los Gringos'', which was accepted at 2000's

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. In 2002, Vicky Jenson and Eric "Bibo" Bergeron invited him as a screenwriter (then as co-director) in the making of ''

''. In 2010, Letterman directed the live-action film ''

'', starring

Jack Black Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include a Children's and Family Emmy ...

in the lead role. He also directed the live-action/CGI film '' Pokémon Detective Pikachu'', based on the ''Pokémon'' videogame franchise. The film was released on May 10, 2019, and grossed $433 million at the box office as well as attained the highest percentage of positive reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

for a film adaptation of a video game at the time. In 2020,

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

announced Letterman as director for an upcoming

live-action animated film Live-action animation is a film genre that combines live-action filmmaking with animation. Projects that are both live-action and computer animation tend to have fictional characters or figures represented and characterized by cast members throu ...

adaptation of

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

's '' Beyond Good & Evil'' video game. Since then, no further updates have been given for the film since the announcement.

Personal life

Letterman is in a relationship with Beth Pontrelli and has two children, Jack and Eva.

Filmography

Short film Feature film Television Other credits

References

External links

* Living people Film directors from Hawaii American male screenwriters Filmmakers from Hawaii DreamWorks Animation people 1970 births {{US-film-director-1970s-stub