The pointless movie Gerard Butler said he was destined to make: “It was destiny”
In 2011, DreamWorks Animation released How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book series by Cressida Cowell, which was a massive hit and quickly spawned a franchise, and then 14 years after it first hit the big screens, in which time two more films, several TV shows, video games, books, and a touring arena show all followed, a live-action remake of the first film was announced.
As is usually the case with these reboots, none of the original voice cast returned, with the grand exception of Gerard Butler.
The hulking Scotsman had lent his voice to Stoick the Vast, the head of a clan of Vikings living on an island besieged by dragon attacks, and his son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, voiced by Jay Baruchel, is the series protagonist.
When the time came to reignite the series (see what I did there?), Butler picked up his axe and portrayed Stoick once again, and this time, his tearaway son was played by Mason Thames, because Baruchel would have been in his early 40s, and that would have been weird.
Speaking to Forbes, Butler revealed that he very nearly didn’t reprise his role as the no-nonsense chief as he was actually working on a different project at the time when director Den DuBlois reached out to him about the gig. He’d been in a meeting about the other film’s script and missed DuBlois’ original call, but was luckily able to catch his follow-up.
“I got a text from Dean two hours later saying, ‘We tried you again. You’re not available. I just want you to know I wanted you to do this so much, and I’m heartbroken’,” he recalled, “I said, ‘Wait. When is this?’ So, the other movie was pushed back, and I could fit this in the middle. It was destiny that the timing worked out, and everything unfolded as it did.”
While Butler doesn’t elaborate on which film was delayed to complete How to Train Your Dragon, a quick glance at his filmography throws up a few possibilities. The film that immediately followed the fantasy adventure was the long-gestating In the Hand of Dante, however, given that Butler isn’t the lead in that project, you have to wonder if they would have delayed shooting to give him time to finish up playing with flying lizards. It’s more likely that he’s talking about Greenland 2: Migration, a sequel to the 2020 post-apocalyptic thriller released in 2026, where Butler has a much bigger role and probably had more sway backstage as a result.
Unfortunately for our favourite man mountain, this reboot was deemed a bit of a misfire; while the original How to Train Your Dragon is a bona fide classic (with several famous fans), the new version was deemed an unnecessary and greedy venture with none of the heart of its predecessor. The box office returns and critical reviews might say otherwise, but if you ask anyone who grew up on the series, they’ll tell you it was a colossal waste of time.
At least Butler seemed to have fun making it, and so did the studio, because a second live-action instalment is in the works, so expect a lot more dragon chat from him in the coming years.
