The evolution of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, from animation to live action.
The director of the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise and the live-action film’s crew talk about making a photorealistic dragon
Whether soaring through the sky or sharing a playful moment with his human bestie Hiccup, Toothless, the dark dragon with a friendly face and injured tail, disarms you with his endearing nature.
It is no surprise that he has become the emblem of the How to Train Your Dragon animated films, the first of which arrived in 2010 – there have since been two sequels, numerous short films and various TV series.
Now Toothless has returned to the big screen in a new photorealistic iteration for the live-action remake of the original 2010 film.
And in an unprecedented move, Dean DeBlois, who directed all three Dragon animated films – as well as 2002’s original Lilo & Stitch, along with Chris Sanders – was asked to helm the live-action reimagining. It was his priority to preserve Toothless’ essence.
“He is our most recognisable dragon within the entire assortment,” DeBlois says on the phone. “And he has a lot of sentience and personality that comes through. And so much of it is expressed in this face that’s quite Stitch-like with the big eyes, the ear plates and the broad mouth.”
In fact, the entire live-action endeavour hinged on whether Toothless could be properly translated as a photorealistic dragon among human actors and physical sets, while retaining the charm of the animated films.