Director Dean DeBlois and star Gerard Butler reunite for Universal Pictures’ live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon out later this week. The filmmaker sat down with io9 to discuss the unique opportunity he and Butler had in re-imagining the role of Stoick the Vast, Berk’s Viking leader with staunch Dragon hunting inclinations who’s also a single dad to his overprotected son Hiccup (Mason Thames).
DeBlois explained his approach to directing Butler in the live-action feature. “I think one of my aspirations going into this live-action reimagining was to dial up the relationships, the key ones, so Stoick and Hiccup have much depth going on—that push and pull of love and expectation,” he said. “[It’s] something that so many kids feel and parents feel when their kid is not turning out the way that they want them to. I wanted to lean into that a little bit more because that just feels very timeless, and kind of travels the globe in terms of cultural specificity.”
Butler previously voiced the character in the animated franchise from DreamWorks. Together the collaborators quickly eased back into the world of Berk and finding who Stoick is this time around.
“With Gerard, the moment that he came aboard it was sort of [like] visiting with an old friend because Gerard had such a strong input into who Stoick was in that first movie,” DeBlois said. “He was like co-creator of the character; finding all of the nuance and the range and the arc that he undergoes was a conversation with [him], rather than us just telling him what he was going to do.”
Deepening the emotional relationship between Stoick and Hiccup was a key part of the new film’s narrative. “I think when he was able to step into those boots for real and have that 90 pound costume put on—the five pieces of his beard and wig, which he complained about all the time—he is that character,” DeBlois said.
“All of that weight and burden becomes part of his emotional burden as well, because he’s trying to keep this tribe together, keep fighting for the purpose that they came to this island for—yet somehow [also] be a single parent and navigate his way through that with a kid that he doesn’t understand,” he added. “I love that he finds so much nuance and depth in all of those tasks as an actor.”
Stoick’s arc with Toothless, which comes into play in a big way in How to Train Your Dragon 2, also gets more set-up time, much to the anticipation of fans of the animated franchise.
“We know where it’s headed in future installations, but in this movie I really like those moments where Stoick and Toothless have to face off a little bit and to go from enemies to sort of a mutual understanding that they will save one another,” DeBlois said. “There’s a strength there and just the very truthful apology that Stoick makes to Toothless near the end of the movie feels very authentic. Those are not crocodile tears, that’s true emotion coming through, the remorse and the regret and the change that Stoick undergoes.”
How to Train Your Dragon opens June 13.
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