My family and I loved the movie How to Train Your Dragon and we were excited to see that How to Train Your Dragon 2 would be out in theaters on 6/13. 

Never did I expect that I would get the chance to sit down and chat with Jay Baruchel (Hiccup), America Ferrera (Astrid) and Dean Deblois (Writer, Director, Executive Producer) about How to Train Your Dragon 2 but I did and it was cool!

How to Train Your Dragon 2 Pic with Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera and Dean Deblois

Here’s what they had to say How to Train Your Dragon 2…

How have your characters developed since doing the first film?

Jay Baruchel: Personally for Hiccup I think in the first one he was trying to reconcile the fact that he was a square peg in this society…5 years on we see the repercussions from the revolution in the first one.  Dragons are engrained in the culture.  There’s not a viking who doesn’t have a dragon of their own…So now at 20, he is trying to reconcile who he wants to be to what his parents expect of him and what his culture expects of him.

America Ferrera: I think in the first movie Astrid was the model viking. She was ready to be a dragon slayer and she was ready to be the best dragon slayer out there.  She was very resistant to Hiccups way of looking at the world and she was the first convert in the first film.  I think in the second film…she very much sees the way that Hiccups sees the world as inspiring.  She’s his partner in it and believes now that he can be the chief, that it lies within him.  I think in the first one she thought she’d make a better chief than Hiccup, and she might still think that a little bit.

Do you think Astrid would make an awesome chief?

America Ferrera: Dean and I talked a lot about this second film and where she would be 5 years later and what her relationship with Hiccup would be. What’s her importance in the world and where does she her future going? …This is a middle chapter in a trilogy, so we’ll get to see all of the characters come of age.  It’s up to Dean to decide how much more of Astrid we get to see but it’s definitely important to all of us that she remain the individual character she is and not just become the girl friend.

About the relationship between Hiccup and Astrid 5 years later

Dean Deblois: Their 5 years in, so the butterflies are gone.  It’s nice to see a comfortable relationship where affectionate little touches or the way they sit together,  has a comfort level to it and support.  Astrid is the type of character that is not going to be afraid to call Hiccup on his nonsense, to be he reason when he is too absorbed in his own indecision.  I think that’s really great.  If anything…Astrid is saving Hiccup in this movie instead of the other way around.

What made you want to do an animated movie?

Jay Baruchel: It was less about wanting to do a kids movie and more about a great opportunity as an actor. Less than 10 percent of us can feed ourselves from acting…most actors work a bunch of other jobs.  So, to be able to have a consistent career is a blessing. To be able to do what you like within that is even more of one and so when you have opportunities that come your way, to be a part of something as cool as this, you’d be a fool to pass it up. I like different kinds of movies, so I want to be a part of different kinds of movies.

America Ferrera: Animated movies were a big part of my childhood and as I grow into adulthood I found myself stealing people’s kids so that it would be ok for me to walk in and watch an animated movie. I think that it is so clear that it’s just another medium. Storytelling can transcend mediums.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no idea it would be this amazing project. It just felt like an opportunity to tell another good story.

How do your prepare for a role that involves your voice for an animated character?  How does it compare to acting our a role?

Jay Baruchel: Personally, I actually prefer it.  For me even though I’ve been acting since I was 12 it’s difficult for me to act in front of a bunch of people staring at me and to…have to wear make up and costumes for 14 hours a day…It always takes me a bit to get there. For this I’m comfortable.  It’s just me in my own skin.

It amounts to an hour and a half, 2 hours every couple of months over the course of 3 years and at the end you are rewarded with this treat that you have no idea what it looks like.  When you’re shooting something you at least kind of know what it will look like and with this we know about 10 percent of what it is going to be. So when we finally see it, we get to watch it as fans whose voices are in it.  There’s no parallel for that…it’s incredible.

What sort of challenges did you have to face this time around that you didn’t face with the first movie?

Dean Deblois: This one was creating a sequel that didn’t feel like a disappointment.  That was something we were acutely aware of.  We wanted to make sure that this movie that had become beloved and continued to gain a fan base, that those people wouldn’t be let down by simply a rehash of the same material.  Which is why we decided to start the story at a different crossroads for Hiccup, Astrid and the other characters, especially Hiccup stepping up into his role of adulthood unsure of who he is and feeling the pressure of his father to step into the family business. It’s an epic adventure but it’s driven by this core restlessness within Hiccup

Jay Baruchel: I think just making sure that we did justice to the people that liked the first one.  There was no reference point or comparison to the first one so if we would have fallen flat on our faces it wouldn’t have mattered much, well to me anyways because I didn’t fund the movie. For this one we had a precedent.  With the first movie, every day it becomes more of an institution. The caliber of the first one became the base for this one.  No matter what it has to be at least as good as the first one, ideally better.  So there is a bit of a weight that comes with that.

America Ferrera: I actually really saw a great advantage with the second film.  With the first one we went through a lot of steps of just discovering the characters and the world, it was more of a discovery process.  For the first film to now be this wonderful gift of this world that we are now living in, going into the second film we weren’t creating anything. We were just playing onto what we had already established.

Possible Spoiler…

Do you feel Hiccup had to experience a loss for him to step up into his role?

Jay Baruchel: Oh Definitely. As I think anybody does, I think it;s a huge part of our generation.  like any coming of age.  without a doubt.  He would follow in his dad’s footsteps regardless but I definitely think it expedites it for sure.

Favorite Scene in the movie

Jay Baruchel: For me it’s when she does the impersonation of Hiccup.  I am a narcissist.

America Ferrera: That was a relief for me because I was really embarrassed and he was in the room when I had to do it.  I’m glad he took it well

…I have a lot of favorite scenes in the movie but my favorite is between Valka and Stoic where they are seeing each other again for the first time…I forgot I was watching animation.  I was just taken away by the story, I was just feeling it and it didn’t matter that it was an animated film.

Dean Deblois: One of my favorite scenes, because I was most nervous about it, was when Stoick and Valka sing together because this isn’t a musical and I don’t like musicals as a whole but I wanted this moment to be a reconnection by way of this song that was their wedding song 20 years ago that had been passed down through viking culture.

Off topic but still interesting…

Will there be an Ugly Betty reunion?

America Ferrera: Anything is possible

They just announced the third movie of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, will you be in it?

America Ferrera: Well, yes they are writing the third script and that’s very exciting and we’re all apart of the conversation and we’ll see where it goes.

I have already seen How to Train Your Dragon 2 and loved it! Be sure to check back tomorrow for my review of the film.