The stars of 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' talk the final installment of the trilogy, the impact the film has made on people's lives and more. The film hits theaters on Feb. 22.
00:00Hey everyone, you're watching another episode of InStudio and today we have America Fur and Jay Baruchel.
00:08Hi there. How are you guys? Thanks for being here.
00:10Thank you for having us.
00:11So we're actually kind of at your studio today at what I kind of want to call the hidden world, which is the DreamWorks campus.
00:17Where the magic happens.
00:18Yeah, exactly. The magical world of DreamWorks. Can you guys tell me about your favorite memories being here and recording here?
00:24Well yeah, I remember the first time I got to see it, I was just like, it's a beautiful place to work.
00:29There's a lot of green and water and everyone seems to be in a good mood and I remember there being ping pong.
00:35Free lunch.
00:36Real delicious hamburger, yeah. It's a great place to show up to work every day.
00:40Yeah, it's a super beautiful campus and once, I don't know if you ever got to do this,
00:45well I brought my niece and nephew to watch the second movie premiere and we got to come in
00:51and one of the animators showed us how to draw some of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon
00:57and it was so awesome.
00:58Were you able to draw Astrid?
01:00I did. I did my own version of Astrid. I think I did okay.
01:04Do you have it still?
01:05I do somewhere.
01:06Somewhere.
01:07Framed somewhere.
01:08Not framed, no.
01:10Now I saw the film last night and I kind of walked away from it thinking,
01:13was that the greatest love story of all time? Can you guys kind of talk about that?
01:16There are so many different relationships that the film explores and it was beautiful.
01:20It was beautiful.
01:21But the Toothless and the Light Fury is an especially beautiful one because it has no words, you know.
01:29It's just emotion and two beautiful characters and I think that's just a testament to Dean, our director,
01:37who just sort of has a God-given understanding of what makes something special.
01:43Yeah, there were a lot of love stories in it.
01:45Yeah, Toothless and Hiccup, I mean Hiccup and Astrid.
01:48Yeah, Hiccup and Astrid.
01:49Yeah, exactly.
01:50And you want all of them to have all the things and then it's what this film has always done,
01:56what all these films have always done, which is even though it's a movie for children supposedly because it's animated,
02:03it never waters down or talks down to the subject or the audience.
02:08It's about change, each of these films are about the world changing around you and the bittersweetness of having to rise to the occasion and be the person that can meet that change and that new challenge.
02:21So these are not sort of sequels so much as chapters in a story and I think that from its inception, Dean had a strong sort of instinct and vision for where this would go.
02:35And so I think everything we've been doing has been working backwards from this point.
02:39And I think the mark of something really special is this is an ending that is the only right ending for this story.
02:48However, I don't know that anybody could anticipate it.
02:51And that's a special thing for this to end exactly the way it's supposed to and for people to still not see it coming.
02:57And I think that's a special thing.
03:00Yeah.
03:01What for both of you inspires you the most about working on an animated film and then getting to see it after it's ready?
03:08Yeah.
03:09Well, I think for me it's just the collaboration that it takes to make a movie like this.
03:16It's hundreds of people.
03:18And, you know, what we do is one fraction of the work that gets done to bring this to life.
03:24And when I sit down to watch these movies, I'm just as excited and blown away and surprised and thrilled as anyone else as a fan of the movies to see how the world comes together.
03:36And I still have a million questions about how people do what they do to bring these to life.
03:42We're such a small part of it, but really just feeling so privileged to not only get to be a part of something like this, but for this to be so beloved and have made such an impact in so many people's lives.
03:55Yeah, it's hard not to be inspired when you know the anticipation and the eagerness with which children across the world are waiting for this thing.
04:07You know, that's pure.
04:10That's really pure.
04:11And the work itself is quite pure as well because it's just you, the scene, and the microphone, right?
04:17Like there's no cameras, there's no set, there's nothing.
04:20So you use your imagination and it keeps it very, very honest.
04:26And you also know that this world we've helped create means a heck of a lot to a lot of people across the world.
04:34And so it's like, yeah, it's hard not to be inspired in that situation.
04:39A lot of the times when I talk to actors who have worked on an animation film, they talk about the pros being you kind of roll out of bed.
04:45There's no hair and makeup.
04:46It's kind of a relaxed recording session.
04:48Can you guys talk about that and the stresses or the stress-free aspect to it?
04:53I love that about it.
04:54I love that I don't have to put on makeup or have a bunch of people staring at me or anything like that.
04:59And also what's really cool is I've been able to do most of my work from back home in Canada.
05:06Most of my work on all three movies and the TV show have been done in studios in Montreal and Toronto.
05:13And so it allows me to still be home and have the life that I want.
05:18But like she said before, we do such a small piece of this thing.
05:25And, you know, so in addition to it being not very taxing, you don't have to, you know, dress up or anything like that.
05:33In addition to that, after three years, you're rewarded with your participation by being a part of this special thing unlike any other movie.
05:41So that's pretty cool.
05:42With it being the last film, the third and last film, what are you going to miss most, I guess, about this?
05:49Oh, man. I mean, I'll miss recording as Astrid, but honestly, as a fan, I'll just miss that there's more coming.
05:59You know, I think every time one of the movies came out, it was like more to anticipate.
06:06Another one's coming. The world's going to get bigger. I can't wait to revisit these characters.
06:10And now that there's this closure, I'm going to miss getting to see the masterpieces come together.
06:17And I'm just, I'm Dean Dubois' like biggest fan, our director.
06:21I just think he's a masterful storyteller and manages always to hit all the notes that it takes to make a movie feel as intimate as this movie does and as grand as it does at the same time.
06:33What, I guess, are some animation films growing up you watch and you kind of look back and miss?
06:40Sword in the Stone is a big one. Probably Fox and the Hound was another big one in my house.
06:47The Disney Robin Hood. And the first Transformers animated feature in 1987 where Optimus Prime got killed.
06:55And that really messed me up as a child.
06:58You recovered now?
06:59I wouldn't go that far.
07:01I still remember being in the movie theater and seeing the teaser trailer for The Lion King.
07:09Oh my gosh.
07:10When it was like still two years away or something and it was like some other Christmas movie and they teased The Lion King.
07:17And I just remember the feeling in my body of like, how am I going to wait?
07:21Like how are we supposed to wait for this?
07:23And then I remember when it came out it being everything you wanted and more.
07:27And also getting to grow up in a time where the animated movie musical was in such an incredible golden age with, you know, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.
07:37Beauty and the Beast.
07:38And those movies, Beauty and the Beast.
07:39I mean, I still know every single word. I'm not going to say more than you.
07:42Please sing.
07:43So please don't ask.
07:44Please.
07:45Those movies meant so much to me.
07:47One thing that happens in the film is obviously the villain tries to take Toothless away from Hiccup.
07:52When in your lives, I guess, has someone tried to take something from you and you had to really like fight back for it?
07:57Jesus Christ.
07:58That got deeper.
07:59Deep.
08:00Yeah.
08:01That's an heavy question.
08:02Wow.
08:03This is a therapy session.
08:04Yeah.
08:05I mean, yeah.
08:07My sister took my Salt and Pepper CD and I had to throw a remote control to her to get it back.
08:14Now you have to sing Salt and Pepper.
08:15What?
08:16Now you have to sing Salt and Pepper.
08:18I could if I wanted to but I'm not going to.
08:21I met them recently.
08:22It was so exciting.
08:23That's so awesome.
08:24That's really cool.
08:25Yeah.
08:26Not the same as losing Toothless, obviously.
08:28Yeah.
08:29I'm trying to think of like, yeah, my soul every time that I work on a movie.
08:37No, you know what?
08:38I actually have a context for this because my first dog that I had as an adult with my now husband, we were, you know, we got this dog together and he like made us a family and we had him for almost 10 years.
08:53And when he got sick and we knew we were losing him, it was probably up until then as an adult was like the hardest feeling in the world was to let go of this soul that like I just loved and put so much into.
09:11That, I think that's what a lot of us feel when we see the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless and really all the dragons and their vikings is the love that we have for our pets who are like family.
09:23Last question to wrap things up here.
09:25We're asking everyone, we've been asking everyone lately, what's a classic film you haven't seen yet but still need to and something maybe you're embarrassed to admit you haven't seen.
09:33Some people have said The Godfather, Titanic.
09:36Yeah, I wouldn't call Titanic a classic.
09:39I mean, I watched it 14 times in the movie theaters.
09:43I went to see it too, but you know, I've gotten to see plenty of movies.
09:49I haven't seen Dr. Zhivago and I feel like that's one that I really have to see.
09:54Patty Jenkins wasn't able to finish it, she said. That was her answer actually.
09:58Yeah, I haven't seen it at all.
10:01Howard's End, right everyone?
10:04I have started Citizen Kane so many times and have never finished it.
10:10That was another, I don't know, answer people have been saying, people have to see it.
10:14And Casablanca.
10:16They're very good films.
10:18Check it out.
10:19But what you should really check out is How to Train Your Dragon 3 in theaters now.
10:23You will be able to finish this movie.
10:25It'll go down as a classic, seriously.
10:30Thank you guys so much for being here.
10:31Thanks for having us.
10:33Right now we're joined with the one and only Toothless.
10:35Toothless, thanks for being here today.
10:38Now for those who want to get to the hidden world, how do they get there?
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