How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake lacked this fan-favorite scene, but the director has a valid reason for it

With How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks has joined Disney in the pursuit of live-action remakes of their animated projects. It is paying off handsomely for the studio.

However, there's often a fear that the remake will look like an imitation of the original. That's why some viewers don't appreciate the thought of similar projects. While keeping that in mind, writer-director Dean DeBlois decided to honor the original while finessing it in the context of a CGI-backed live-action reimagining.

DeBlois has already worked on the three animated projects, so he was aware of how to fine-tune it with this new opportunity. During this creative process, he had to cut some scenes to avoid some issues with the narrative flow and the pacing. One of them is when Hiccup learns that dragons are fireproof only on the outside. So, during a recent interview with Variety, DeBlois spoke about this scene.

"When Hiccup and Toothless are resting after the midpoint scene of what we call the 'Test drive,' and they look to the sky together, they’re accosted by little terrors that try to steal their fish. Hiccup observes that dragons are not so fireproof."

He further shed light on why he cut this scene.

"In the film, it felt like it was dragging the pace down, and it was delivering information that we were already getting. It was cute, but it wasn’t contributing anything, and if anything, it was actually causing it to sag in terms of its pacing."

However, some viewers believe this scene was necessary for this specific piece of exposition about the dragons, which becomes crucial to understanding Hiccup's strategies during his final battle with the queen.

How to Train Your Dragon director speaks about another scene he cut from the live-action remake

Besides the scene after the "test drive," DeBlois also decided to shorten another scene for a creative reason. During the interview, he spoke in detail about the same.

"Another scene that we trimmed was a moment when Astrid nearly catches Hiccup red-handed. He’s snuck Toothless into the blacksmith stall, and it’s the middle of the night. Astrid finds him there, and he’s trying to cover up and dissuade her from investigating any further. Toothless is making a bunch of noise inside the blacksmith stall, and it was a near miss."

DeBlois knew it was an adorable moment between Hiccup and Astrid, but decided to trim it to avoid pacing issues.

"It was a cute moment, another bit of Hiccup’s flawed flirting and Astrid’s aggression and suspicion. She wants to get to the bottom of what’s going on. But it was slowing the pace down, and so both scenes will exist as bonus content when we eventually put out the home video version of the movie."

Dean DeBlois also retained the magic of the original with some frame-by-frame copies

During the Variety interview, the How to Train Your Dragon director also spoke about the near-identical scenes in the live-action recreation.

"There’s the moment where Hiccup and Toothless are befriending one another and drawing in the sand, which leads to the first touch. And then there was also the moment where Hiccup and Toothless are flying together above the clouds and testing out the flight rig, and they become detached."

He further explained why he decided to bring these scenes back to life.

"I thought it would be a fun and challenging task to try to recreate that in the medium of live action, shot for shot as possible. That was an homage to the fan base and to that original source material."

How to Train Your Dragon is out in theaters now.

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Also read: How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake recovers its budget within two days of its release: Here are the box office collection stats

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