The cast and director of How To Train Your Dragon share which scenes they were excited and nervous to recreate. Dean DeBlois’ new live-action remake has gathered plenty of attention for its stunning visual effects and large-scale worldbuilding, but perhaps the most impressive part of this family adventure is how accurately it recreates the imagery of the original movie. The movie is one of this summer’s most anticipated releases, and it’s one of the few live-action remakes that feels like it genuinely builds on the mythos of the original story by bringing this inspirational story to life with live-action performers.

ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan recently spoke with the cast and crew of How To Train Your Dragon to discuss which scenes they were most excited to translate into live-action. Director Dean DeBlois had one particular sequence in mind that he found particularly important:

“I was most excited about recreating Hiccup’s graduation day in the arena in front of all of those Vikings – Stoick is proud of his son and Hiccup’s in the tunnel listening to all the mockery and the ridicule, and it plays into all of the relationships. You have the father-son relationship, you have Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship, which has turned, and now she’s willing to support him no matter the cost to her own ambitions, and then Toothless coming in to save Hiccup, which is just so heartbreaking because it’s heroic on Toothless’ part, but it ends badly for him.”

On the other hand, Thames, who portrays Hiccup, picked the cliff scene and the moment between him and Stoick after the Viking leader saves him and Toothless. Parker, who will play Astrid, chose the romantic flight sequence because of how it “starts off so crazy” and how they could recreate it for real. Read their conversation below:

Thames: I mean, for me, one scene I was really looking forward to – at least one line – was when we’re on the cliff and you say, “What are you going to do about it?” And then it was, “I don’t know, something stupid.”

Parker: Epic.

Thames: And then probably when Stoick comes up to me after he saves me and Toothless out of the water and we have that interaction. He’s like, “I’m proud to call you a son.” And then I was like, “And that’s all I need.” That was fun. That was cool.

Parker: I think all of it was very exciting and daunting at the same time. I remember being… I just more so couldn’t even conceptualize how they were going to film it, but our whole romantic flight sequence because it starts off so crazy. I remember when we watched this story — [laughs] we were just obsessed with the clouds — I remember when we watched it in the animated, I remember me and Mason both being like, “I don’t know how…” just because it’s so mad. And I think that all of the flying scenes…

Thames: Like Ricky Bobby… I don’t know what to do with my hands.

Parker: But I think that stuff for sure, I was just very excited for, but also very kind of, how are we even going to make this look remotely real?

Thames: I know a lot of that stuff was, we never knew how it was going to turn out, and I’m so happy that everything looks so great.

What Their Comments Mean For How To Train Your Dragon’s Remake

The Film Clearly Wants To Be Loyal To The Original Movie

A key reason that the How To Train Your Dragon remake feels so accurate and authentic in comparison to the other live-action remakes of recent years is that it brings back the same director as the original movie. DeBlois clearly understands this franchise better than anybody else, and that’s evident from his comments above. This is a story about friendship, family, and sacrifice, and the story’s key relationships all serve clear purposes in developing Hiccup as a character and getting the audience on his side.

Although the upcoming remake is replicating major beats from the original, it has received some criticism from audiences. While many remakes tend to make significant changes, some audiences expressed their frustration with how the remake looks exactly like the original movie, questioning whether a live-action version was necessary. However, DeBlois has previously defended the movie and reᴀssured that the remake will go even deeper into the fantastical Viking world and its characters.

Our Take On The How To Train Your Dragon Cast’s Comments

The Movie Sounds Like A Fresh Kind Of Remake

It’s easy to be skeptical about live-action remakes, given how common they’re becoming in today’s cinematic climate, but How To Train Your Dragon seems like the rare example that genuinely wants to experiment with the medium to tell the same story in a completely different way. DeBlois’ comments in particular prove just how much effort went into recapturing the “lightning in a bottle” atmosphere of that first movie. If How To Train Your Dragon succeeds at the box office, this could be the beginning of a whole new era for live-action remakes.