Universal Pictures’ new live-action adaption of How To Train Your Dragon is now playing in UK cinemas. Last week the cast and crew landed in London to promote the movie and we sat down with director Dean DeBlois to talk all about his journey with the franchise.
Fans will know that Dean co-directed the original animated movies before returning to helm (and write) this new live-action interpretation. In our interview, James talks with him about bringing Toothless in to live-action as well as paying homage to a generation of fans who have grown up with the franchise.
In his four-star review of the film, James says the film “is an absolute must-see for everyone, whether you grew up on the original trilogy or are fully prepared for your first visit to Berk. The characters are brought to life brilliantly by the cast, the story remains true to itself and features the morals and messages that made the first film a touching and moving masterpiece.”
Watch the full interview in the player below:
This interview has been edited for clarity.
JAMES LISTER: Welcome to London. Thank you very much. I’m thank you so much for bringing How to Train Your Dragon, to the big screen in an entirely new format. Hiccup inspired me a little bit to embrace [being an outsider]. What sort of, message do you want these new fans to walk away from seeing this, adaptation?
DEAN DEBLOIS: Well, a lot of it. The core is exactly that. Hiccup is a celebration of the outsider, of the misfits, because he can endure mockery and ridicule and still sort of stay true to himself and follow his convictions. That’s the kind of hero that a lot of us can get behind and then the story is, you know, it’s transports you. It’s full of wonder and I think it’s a world that hopefully the audience wants to spend more time in. We wanted to do it in such a way that it brings it even closer to reality. Like the dragons feel real, the land feels real.
I remember having the conversation with John Powell, our composer. He was the first phone call I made, and I said “talk me out of this” as if it’s a bad idea. He said no. I think that our fans have grown up and for those who are attached to the story, it’s like a nostalgic hug.
JL: I love that there are some really fun changes in there. Beginning this process, what was it like trying to find that balance between fidelity and also fresh?
DDB: It started with a conversation with Universal [Pictures]. I said, so are we talking about, you know, an another story inspired by How to Train Your Dragon or is it closer to classic house books, or is it a different timeline? They said no we want that [original] story, but we want it with embellishments. You can open up the mythology and get into the characters a little bit more, or we can delve into the experiential quality of it and make it visceral and lean into all those live action tools. So that’s where we put our efforts.
Characters like Astrid, who were a bit underdeveloped and a little bit underserved just due to time in the animated movie. We could get more into understanding her and how she’s put so much effort into attaining the status she has and how she’s willing to sacrifice that for Hiccup. Then later in the movie, deeper in to the arc with the father and son [element]. There’s something about putting the camera on Mason Thames, listening to his father talking to the whole tribe about Hiccup being Hiccup and everyone’s laughing. But you’re on Mason’s face and you feel the pain of that. It goes to a different dimension for me. The action made me when we were filming it. I still remember welling up during [the] test drive [scene].
JL: There are scenes like test rive, the romantic fly, the forbidden friendship, all imbued with John Powell’s score. What is it, do you think, that makes these particular scenes so special to fans?
DDB: We realised as we concluded the animated trilogy and the TV series, those scenes were so iconic that as we were planning this live action version, we said let’s try to do those almost shot-for-shot as close as we can so that it feels like an homage to the fandom and to those original key scenes that seemed to define what How To Train Your Dragon is. It allowed us to go off in different directions and make a few omissions and a few additions around it. But those scenes we wanted to be really strong and intact.
JL: What challenges did you face making [the dragons] actually feel and look real?
DDB: On one side we definitely were working backward. We were saying “okay, if the dragons from the animated movies are caricatured and exaggerated and stylised, what did the real animals look like that inspired them?” So it allowed us to lean in to the animal references, crocodiles and walruses, I like tropical birds and a black panther for Toothless. But we also wanted to make sure we didn’t lose any personality. So in shaping Toothless, for example, we found that if we tried to make his eyes more naturalistic and smaller or a smaller mouth, or give him more natural proportions, we were losing the personality. So we tried to find this balance where there’s rippling muscle and iridescent scales but a strong skeleton and cat-like movement. But the face is still there. That expressiveness is still there.
JL: Thank you. [It was a] pleasure to meet you.
DDB: Pleasure to meet you too.
How to Train Your Dragon is written, produced and directed by DeBlois. It is also produced by three-time Oscar® nominee Marc Platt (Wicked, La La Land) and Emmy winner Adam Siegel (Drive, 2 Guns). How To Train Your Dragon is part of the Filmed For IMAX® Program, which offers filmmakers IMAX® technology to help them deliver the most immersive movie experience to audiences around the world.
Inspired by Cressida Cowell’s New York Times bestselling book series, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise has captivated global audiences, earning four Academy Award® nominations and grossing more than $1.6 billion at the global box-office. Now, through cutting-edge visual effects, DeBlois transforms his beloved animated saga into a breathtaking live-action spectacle, bringing the epic adventures of Hiccup and Toothless to life with jaw-dropping realism as they discover the true meaning of friendship, courage and destiny.
