When I was watching How To Train Your Dragon at the theater, it was noticeable how good the scenes with leads Mason Thames and Nico Parker on dragonback looked. As Toothless and Stormfly flew, wind whipped through the cast’s hair and the shifting motions in the air felt organic, and well, like they were fully in live action.
So, when I got to speak with the cast ahead of July 15th's Digital drop of the 2025 movie release, I had to know how they made those scenes look so realistic. As it turns out, though, filming with the dragons is a little more unglamorous than you might assume.
How The How To Train Your Dragon Cast Really ‘Rode’ On Dragonback
A pivotal moment in How To Train Your Dragon live action comes when Hiccup outfits Toothless with a new tail and the two fly over land and gorgeous waters for the first time. Director Dean DeBlois previously told me when they had screened the movie for the first time, the flying scene was the moment they knew HTTYD was working in live action. But it took a lot of work and some practical effects to get there, with Mason Thames telling me:
It’s awesome. It’s really cool. It’s not as glamorous as it is in the film, because it’s kind of just a mechanical bull with wind machines in your face. What did you call it earlier?
Nico Parker went on to call the wind machine "The Beyoncé fan" and the two had a fun exchange about the Beyoncé effect.
"Nico: The Beyonce’ fan.
Mason: That sounds much cooler. There we go. I had a bunch of Beyonce’ fans. Nico: Mason is Beyonce.’ "
The creative team hooked the cast up with some gimbals, aka rotational devices allowing the actors to be seen pivoting, swooping and swishing through the air. Thames told CinemaBlend essentially these operated in the same way a mechanical bull might –and were equally as uncomfortable, though the two still felt it was a “cool” task to challenged with, one that took quite a while to film and led to them getting pretty close on set.
"Mason: People know. It’s really cool. We were on it for about a month. It got really uncomfortable at times. Especially when Nico was on the dragon with me. Because that saddle is NOT made for two.
Nico: No, it’s NOT made for two. There’s not that much space.
Mason: Not any space.
Nico: I was having a brilliant time."
Intriguingly, if you want to see Nico and Mason filming as Astrid and Hiccup, the extras on the new home release really go behind-the-scenes and show fans what filming those flying moments looked like. In addition, viewers will learn more about how dragons were recreated for live action, and this included things like puppets being used during filming, special touches that allowed the actors to really get more into the emotional narrative (and I’d assume have a better eye reference point) while filming.
With a live-action HTTYD sequel on the way, I’m interested to see how the process changes and stays the same during Round 2. With any luck, maybe Nico and Mason can petition for a little extra room.
You can catch all of this, as well as How To Train Your Dragon deleted scenes and so much more --literally 75 minutes worth -- as the flick is available to rent or own right now.
