Robert Thomas Letterman (born October 31, 1970) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

and screenwriter. Letterman made his directorial debut as co-director of the animated comedy film ''

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...

'' (2004), for which he received a nomination for the

Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production The Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Writing in a Feature Production (or Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production) is an Annie Award awarded annually, except in 1997, to the best animated fe ...

. He then co-directed the animated science fiction comedy film '' Monsters vs. Aliens'' (2009). Letterman has since transitioned into live-action filmmaking, directing the fantasy comedy film ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''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 clergyman Jonathan ...

'' (2010), the horror comedy film ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually ...

'' (2015), and the fantasy mystery film ''

Pokémon Detective Pikachu ''Detective Pikachu'' (also known as ''Pokémon: Detective Pikachu'' and released as in Japan after the original game) is a 2019 comedy film directed by Rob Letterman. Based on the ''Pokémon'' franchise, the film is a loose adaptation of the ...

'' (2019). In 2020,

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

announced Letterman as director for an upcoming

live-action animated film A live-action animated film is a film that combines live action filmmaking with animation. Films that are both live-action and computer-animated tend to have fictional characters or figures represented and characterized by cast members through mot ...

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 '' Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

's ''

Beyond Good & Evil ''Beyond Good & Evil'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and m ...

'' video game.

Early life

Letterman was born in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and attended

Mid-Pacific Institute Mid-Pacific Institute is a private, co-educational college preparatory school for grades preschool through twelve with an approximate enrollment of 1,538 students, the majority of whom are from Hawaii (although many also come from other states and ...

and

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

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 (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

. In 2002,

Vicky Jenson Victoria "Vicky" Jenson (born March 4, 1960) is an American film director of both live-action and animated films. Retrieved April 9, 2014. She has directed projects for DreamWorks Animation, including ''Shrek'', the first film to win an Academy ...

and

Eric "Bibo" Bergeron Eric "Bibo" Bergeron (born July 14, 1965) is a French animator and film director. His work includes ''The Road to El Dorado'' (2000), ''Shark Tale'' (2004) and ''A Monster in Paris'' (2011). Bergeron has served as animator on films like '' Aster ...

involved 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 Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), '' Shallow Hal'' (2001), '' Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ' ...

in the lead role. He also directed the live-action/CGI film ''

'', 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-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, and Stephen Wan ...

for a film adaptation of a video game.

Personal life

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

Filmography

Director Other credits

References

External links

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