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As the 2024 movie release schedule winds down and the slate of 2025 new movies looms, it’s the perfect time to get hyped for what’s ahead. Topping my excitement list is the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. Gerard Butler, no stranger to challenging shoots (remember his epic turn in 300?), is taking on the role of Stoick the Vast. And it sounds like his latest challenge is as intense as ever. With ice baths, freezing weather, and a 90-pound Viking costume, The Bounty Hunter actor and his fellow HTTYD cast didn’t just act like Vikings—they practically became them.
Speaking recently with Collider, the Scotland-born actor opened up about the physical toll of the production, and it sounds like every bit of it was as intense as you’d expect from a movie about fire-breathing dragons and battle-hardened warriors. While fans may imagine sweeping vistas and awe-inspiring visual effects as the most challenging aspects of filming, the actor revealed just how punishing the off-screen environment was, too. He revealed to the outlet:
I had a hotel room that had glass right down by my bath, and for some reason, I had decided I was going to take ice baths every morning. So, at five in the morning, my [physical therapist] — because I’m like, ‘I’m not going to put the ice in the bath,’ — would come in and fill my bath with ice, and I would get in this ice bath, but outside it would be dark with wind blowing, soaking wet. You know how freezing it was. At least if you’re doing an ice bath and you’re in LA it’s a blue sky. This was like, ‘I am going out into that.’
That definitely sounds like an intense process. But it might have worked out, as Butler looks killer in the role.
Apparently, the harsh conditions didn’t end there. The Law Abiding Citizen star described the sheer physicality required for the role, particularly his weighty Viking ensemble, which might be a contender for the heaviest costume in cinema history. He continued:
I had seven layers, thick layers, and a thick beard, and then I had a kind of bearskin or wolfskin over it. It was heavy as shit. When I had my sword and my shield and the helmet, which was heavy, and all those layers with the clasps that went around, it was 90 pounds, my costume. I was, in the middle of the coldest day, soaking wet from sweat inside because it was like a furnace in there.
As I mentioned earlier, Gerard Butler is no stranger to intense on-set experiences—it’s par for the course when you’ve been an action movie star since the early 2000s. The Playing for Keeps actor even recently shared how he “burned alive” and accidentally poured acid on his face while filming Plane.
In a twist of fate, while his How to Train Your Dragon co-stars braved freezing temperatures, the Gamer performer’s hefty Viking costume turned him into a walking furnace. Of course, this came with its own quirks—like a constantly slipping beard and melting eyebrows. The Gods of Egypt star hilariously recalled:
So, I guess I had the benefit of— I was rarely cold while everybody else was. My beard’s coming off because of the sweat. You gotta stick it back down. My eyebrows were coming off. I had to stick it down because I was sweating so much.
If Butler’s onset glimpses of the How to Train Your Dragon set are any indication, this live-action adaptation isn’t just aiming to capture the adventurous spirit of the animated films—it’s bringing the intensity you’d expect of a fantasy epic.
Based on the first How to Train Your Dragon teaser alone, fans should expect a visceral, grounded take on the story of Hiccup and Toothless, with Butler’s portrayal of Stoick adding plenty of gravitas and grit.
Here’s hoping all that sweat and frostbite translates to a movie as epic as the P.S. I Love You A-lister’s behind-the-scenes stories. Fans of the Dragon franchise and Gerard Butler’s action-packed résumé won’t want to miss it when the film roars into theaters on June 13, 2025. While you wait, consider revisiting the OG animated How to Train Your Dragon, which is available to stream with a Max subscription.