Canadian director DeBlois wins Golden Globe for ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’

TORONTO – Canadian director Dean DeBlois didn’t come into the 72nd Annual Golden Globes riding much optimism — after all, he’d been beaten by toys before.

DeBlois saw his second feature “How to Train Your Dragon” — which he co-directed with Chris Sanders — lose to “Toy Story 3” at both the 2011 Globes and Oscars.

This year, “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (on which DeBlois served alone as writer-director) was figured similarly due for defeat against block-based blockbuster “The Lego Movie.”

So imagine DeBlois’s surprise when “Dragon 2” was announced as the winner Sunday night.

“Most of the awards pundits were predicting that ‘Lego’ would win, so we were very shocked to hear our names called,” he said on the phone from Los Angeles on Monday.

“We’d been through this with the first movie up against ‘Toy Story 3’ — you kind of get used to idea that the other movie is going to win. And not begrudging them at all — I think they’re great guys and they made a great movie — but I genuinely was surprised.”

Set five years after its blockbuster predecessor, “How to Train Your Dragon 2” positions noble hero Hiccup (voiced with squawky sincerity by Montreal’s Jay Baruchel) against the malevolent Drago Bludvist. The fate of Hiccup’s now dragon-friendly Viking community hangs in the balance.

For the sequel, DeBlois secured an all-star cast (adding Cate Blanchett and Djimon Hounsou to a group that already included Gerard Butler, America Ferrera and Jonah Hill) and, with a nod to “The Empire Strikes Back,” brought the series into its adolescence with a moodier tone and even (spoiler!) a character casualty.

A day after winning the award, DeBlois talked to The Canadian Press about his Golden Globes experience.

CP: Were you starstruck by anyone you met there?

DeBlois: There’s certainly people I’ve wanted to meet a long time I was able to say hello to, and have short conversations with. Richard Linklater was one of them. I loved “Boyhood” — I thought it was fantastic. I talked to Ellar Coltrane too, the star of the movie.

I talked to Damien (Chazelle), the director of “Whiplash,” and commended him on such an amazing movie and … it was his first feature film and, my God, it was great.

It’s a really nice opportunity because they’re all right there and most of them have been drinking a little bit, so they’re all jovial.

___

CP: Is it really as boozy an event as everyone says?

DeBlois: It definitely is. I think people are trying to calm their nerves and others are just taking advantage of the fact that the champagne is flowing.

It’s always a funny event and I think people are bracing themselves for a bit of ridicule, so people do have a few drinks. It’s nice because the acceptance speeches aren’t nearly as serious as say, the Oscars. There’s licence to be playful.

___

CP: Speaking of which, are you going to get up early Thursday morning (when Academy Award nominations are announced)?

DeBlois: Sure, I will. It’s not every year that you get an opportunity to be considered, so I’ll be paying attention for sure. Animated movies take three-to-four years, so it’s something special when you do have a film that’s out there and that’s been as well-received as ours was.

___

CP: You worked on the CBC kids’ cartoon “The Raccoons” (in 1989). Was that your first job?

DeBlois: It was! I worked for Hinton Animation Studios in Ottawa. At the time I was going to Sheridan College in Oakville but I was doing a summer program.

It’s funny, of all the things I’ve worked on, Jay (Baruchel) was most excited about that — when he found out I worked on “The Raccoons.”

___

CP: Have you talked to Jay (since winning)?

DeBlois: He texted me immediately. He was so excited.

___

CP: You took a risk on a darker tone with this second movie — does an award like this give you validation?

DeBlois: It does — I think a lot of those risks did pay off. I think it’s a lot of the reason for the success of the film.

But there’s also people within our industry — and even our studio — who will argue that those risks dampened the box office.

It’s never a sure thing. I’m very proud of the choices we made and the more daring aspects of the film. I’ve heard from plenty of people who have seen the film — industry insiders and not — and a lot of them really responded. They cried or they felt some emotional resonance to their own lives. And that’s all the validation I need.

___

CP: So now you dive back into “How to Train Your Dragon 3”?

DeBlois: Yeah, I’ve been writing the third film. I’m in the middle of the screenplay at the moment. Writing’s tough. I find writing really tough because it’s a solo endeavour and it’s full of self-loathing and procrastination and all sorts of demons you have to fight.

At the end of the day, it has to be done. Once I get into a groove and I have a little momentum and a few days of progress, then it starts to feel good.

There’s a sense of pride when you’re done, but in the middle of it, it’s not much fun.

___

Answers have been edited and condensed.

— Follow @CP_Patch on Twitter.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today