00:00It was amazing. It was really fun. I mean, some of that stuff, because we filmed all of the
00:04dragon riding stuff at the end of the shoot, and that was truly kind of, you know, it felt like
00:10something that we had all been building up to, because that's such a huge part of the film,
00:15specifically for Mason. I mean, he's on the dragon half the time anyway.
00:19The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon flies into theaters this weekend.
00:24Ahead of its release, the cast spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about the new film.
00:28Mason Thames stars in the live-action take on the 2010 animated film as Hiccup,
00:33a misfit Viking boy who befriends a Night Fury dragon named Toothless.
00:37So many of your scenes are just you and Toothless. How did you film those scenes? Were you looking
00:43at a ball on a stick, or was there a puppet? How did you bring it to life?
00:46I mean, I was terrified that it was going to be, you know, just a tennis ball, and it's going to
00:51be pretty sad most of the time, because I was informed that there were going to be actual dragons,
00:55but that was not true.
00:57Couldn't get to it, because his contract didn't tell you.
00:59No, he's a diva, so we had to go a different route. But yeah, no, we had an amazing puppeteering team,
01:04led by Tom Wilton and many other amazing puppeteers, but we had this foam head with eyes,
01:10and the mouth could move, and that's something I could touch and act with and look at, which helped a lot.
01:15And then, you know, they also had like a giant foam body that I could lay on and touch whenever,
01:19you know, the scene needed it. But yeah, they made it very easy working with a fake co-star,
01:26so that was nice.
01:27Nico Parker co-stars as Astrid, a Viking girl who takes no nonsense, and a character who's widely
01:32considered an early example of a strong female lead in animation.
01:36How did you bring her tenacity and strength to the screen?
01:39I don't know.
01:40The cartwheels.
01:41The cartwheels, the axe work.
01:45Everything.
01:45All of it in abundance. I mean, I think, you know, she's such a kind of,
01:49specifically, you know, for all young kids, but for young girls, I mean, I remember she was so
01:54badass and cool to me, and I think that she's so, you know, not just like mentally strong,
02:00also just physically so capable of something that's really special to see in a female lead.
02:05It was also, you know, to get to play with childhood heroes, an absolute dream come true,
02:09so it was very, very cool.
02:11She killed it.
02:11Meanwhile, Gerard Butler, who voices Hiccup's dad, Stoic the Vast, in the animated films,
02:16returns to play the character in live action.
02:19The father-son relationship between Stoic and Hiccup is really at the heart of this movie.
02:23He just wants to make his dad proud.
02:25Yeah.
02:25What was it like working with...
02:26So we should.
02:27Yeah.
02:28I'm done. I've worked hard.
02:30Hey, son, now it's your turn.
02:32What was it like working with Mason as a young actor, and how did you build that father-son relationship?
02:38There was such a weight of responsibility on him to fill those boots, you know, as Hiccup.
02:44He's a phenomenal young actor, and it made those scenes, you know, it felt like a great team.
02:49It felt like theater, especially those scenes.
02:52Me, him, and they were always very powerful scenes, even when they were funny or awkward or super emotional.
02:59And they required a lot of skill if you were really going to ring out all the story that you could.
03:05And we watched it in Brazil the other night, and my buddy was filming me, and he kept tapping me.
03:10And he's like, he's like the next Tom Cruise.
03:12I'm like, oh, Greg, yeah, he's amazing.
03:14And he's like, he's like Timmy Chalamet.
03:16And I'm like, yeah, yeah, no, he's amazing.
03:19He's a huge star, and nobody deserves it more because he works hard.
03:23He's very talented, and he's incredibly sweet and humble.
03:29I think it's time you learn to fight dragons.
03:31What?
03:33No, you go first.
03:34No, no, no, you go first.
03:36How to Train Your Dragon marks the first movie from DreamWorks Animation to get the live-action treatment.
03:41What's another DreamWorks animation movie that you think should be made into a live-action movie?
03:45I have a genuine, non-like, sarcastic answer for this.
03:48And I don't know if it is DreamWorks, so I may be embarrassed.
03:50El Dorado.
03:51It is.
03:52El Dorado is sick.
03:54It's an old one, The Road to El Dorado.
03:56The, like, London brown-haired guy, they, like, find a treasure map.
03:59Yes, yes, yes, I do know, I do know, yeah.
04:01To, like, yeah.
04:03Fun.
04:03That.
04:04Yeah.
04:04Kung Fu Panda.
04:05That would kind of be freaky, though.
04:07No, he's high-action, but everyone's just in, like, onesies of the animals.
04:10Yes, yeah.
04:11What if he was just, like, paint, like, face-painted, like a dude.
04:13And I want to say, like, it's direct just because I'm always happy to see Cameron Diaz in something.
04:17Yeah.
04:19Sorry.
04:19For more on how to train your dragon, go to THR.com.
04:23For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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