‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Sneak Peek: A More Visceral and Immersive Live-Action Remake

Universal dropped the first trailer for the DreamWorks “How to Train Your Dragon” live-action remake on February 12, following the high-flying teaser seen during the Super Bowl. IndieWire got a sneak peek of the trailer (boasting some familiar moments from the animated original) and three scenes at a recent Universal presentation at the studio with director Dean DeBlois.

The live-action remake revisits the Viking dragon slayers on the island of Berk, led by Chief Stoic (reprised by Gerard Butler). The new film concerns the secret friendship between Stoic’s son, Hiccup (Mason Thames), and Toothless, the rare Night Rider dragon. The focus of the trailer and footage was on big-screen spectacle.

In the first scene, Hiccup awkwardly struggles during dragon training, while the badass Astrid (Nico Parker) excels with more talent and confidence. In the second scene, Hiccup disastrously attempts to tame a wild dragon during his test of courage in the arena, and in the third scene, we are treated to the thrilling re-enactment of Hiccup’s first ride atop Toothless, which takes on a more immersive and visceral power in live-action.

As the first director to helm a live-action remake of his own animated film (co-directed with Chris Sanders of “The Wild Robot”), DeBlois was in a privileged position. But why do it, especially since DeBlois is not a fan of the remake trend started at Disney?

‘How to Train Your Dragon‘Universal Pictures

First, to protect the film and its legacy: “ After ‘Dragon 3’ came out in 2019, I spent the next four or five years pitching, selling, and writing original [live action] screenplays,” DeBlois told IndieWire. “Several at Universal. COVID happened, and they weren’t greenlit. And then, all of a sudden, I got a call from Universal saying that they were looking at the library with DreamWorks and considering this idea that we might do a fully realized live-action, big-budget version of ‘How to Train Your Dragon.’

“And, I think, my knee-jerk response was, ‘I don’t want to see someone else’s interpretation of it,'” he continued. “So, even though I don’t especially like the trend, I thought I would rather jump in because they’re our characters, our world, everybody who works on them, and I just wanted to be a voice of consistency.”

Once DeBlois signed on to direct the remake, the first person he contacted from the original was composer John Powell, who saw the creative potential and came at it from the perspective of introducing a new generation of kids to the franchise.

“This is a way of refreshing it in a way that could bring its own strengths in the new medium,” added DeBlois. “So he said, ‘If you’re in, I’m in.’ And that gave me the confidence. Then I called [cinematographer] Roger Deakins [who served as visual consultant on the franchise], and Roger said, ‘I’m done with big-budget movies right now. I just want to work on smaller-scale, independent movies, but I will introduce you to [cinematographer] Bill Pope [from ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘The Matrix’].’

Hiccup (Mason Thames) and Astrid (Nico Parker) from ‘How to Train Your Dragon’Helen Sloan/Universal Pictures

“And what a godsend,” DeBlois continued. “Not only does he have an amazing eye as a great cameraman, but he’s really good with story. And he’s especially good with truth in action. He was able to keep me tuned with all of the mayhem of a set, and everybody who had questions, and all that was happening and the time pressure we were under. He could always pull me aside and say, ‘Pay attention to this line, pay attention to that exchange, it’s the kernel of this whole scene. And don’t be distracted by the other things.'”

The other reason DeBlois signed on to direct the live-action remake was to improve on the 2010 original film (adapted from the Cressida Cowell novel) despite its commercial and critical success. The film was rushed through production after two previous iterations, and DeBlois had a list of regrets that he wanted to address.

“I felt like the young characters aside from Hiccup were underserved, especially Astrid,” DeBlois said. “I felt like we could have gone deeper with her. I also felt like we never explained why the Vikings were on that island, and why they didn’t leave. It’s beset with dragons and seemed like an opportunity to give a greater history to what this tribe is about and how they came together.

“Give them a sense of purpose and expand the world in the sense that we’re suggesting dragons have been a menace everywhere,” he continued. “The Vikings recruited the best warriors from all these places they went to when they traveled down the Silk Road, when they were in North Africa, or in the Far East. You get a certain sense of color and blending of cultures and textiles and costumes and weaponry and sculpture and tapestry.”

The transition from animation to live action wasn’t all that steep because DeBlois leaned into naturalism with the help of Deakins on the trilogy.  ”We wanted it to feel like if characters fell from a height, they weren’t going to bounce,” DeBlois added. “And if they got in the way of dragon fire, they would get burned. And so bringing in Roger on those animated movies gave it a sense of tactile reality. In this case, we could go full bore with the live action.”

VFX duties fell to Framestore (the Oscar-nominated “Wicked”), with DeBlois taking the liberty of making the dragons look more photoreal than in the animated movies to overcome their awkward cartoony look. However, when it came to Toothless, he adhered to its familiar design, but with improved animation for the scales and large, round eyes.

 ”I think that was deliberate on our part because if we made the eyes any smaller or if we changed the scales and appendages, he quickly lost his appeal,” DeBlois added. “And so, hopefully, we find that line where you believe the musculature, you believe the panther-like references, but that face is still quite emotive with these giant eyes that just don’t exist in nature.”

“How to Train Your Dragon” opens theatrically June 13, including on IMAX screens. Check out the trailer below.