There are few actors that can say that they’ve played the same character in both a beloved animated movie franchise and a live-action remake, but Gerard Butler has had the chance to do so with the How To Train Your Dragon live-action movie. He’s set to once again play Hiccup’s father, Stoick the Vast, and his description of his experience playing the Viking is only getting me more excited.
After the first look of Butler as Stoick was revealed in the How To Train Your Dragon teaser, the actor was asked if he grew out a massive beard for the role. Here’s what he said:
No! It was like five pieces of hell. Hours everyday and then another hour just to get into the costume.
While it must have been exciting for the actor to revisit the DreamWorks character by physically playing him, it didn’t come without a lot more responsibilities than talking into a voice booth. As he told Entertainment Tonight, he definitely didn’t decide to copy Stoick’s facial hair by growing out his hair, but the process to get his hair on set was “five pieces of hell.” He also said this:
I'd always wondered making those movies, you know, seeing the animated version, 'What would it be like to actually have to be that size? To be that character and to live?' Because for me, one of the great things about being an actor is you get to live in those other worlds, but you don't when it's animated. But now they've made the live action and suddenly you're in those arenas and you're in that viking village.
While I’ve grown a little weary of all the upcoming live-action Disney movie remakes, I’m rather excited to see Toothless on the big screen again for this reimagining. It definitely helps that the original writer/director Dean DeBlois came back to make his famed DreamWorks project for live-action, and the first footage is really exciting.
Butler made a solid point that while he voiced the role across about a decade of the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy, he could only imagine what it’s like to be a Viking like Stoick. While shooting the live action version, which wrapped filming in May, he loved getting to actually play that world. However, at the same time, it also meant Butler had a 90-pound costume and shot in freezing weather in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As Butler continued:
The movie's incredible. I've seen it without effects. It's amazing. But I cannot wait for the world to see it.
Yeah, this is starting to become one of my most anticipated 2025 movies. While the animated films will always be something I treasure and love, there’s something exciting about knowing that Gerard Butler and the rest of the cast really had a taste of Viking life and will give us a taste as well with the release.
Getting a chance to see how Stoick would be through Butler’s live-action portrayal, along with the new versions Hiccup (Mason Thames), Astrid (Nico Parker), Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost) or Fishlegs Ingerman (Julian Dennison) along with seeing dragons fly and the world of Berk is going to be a blast. The movie hits theaters on June 13.
