Gerard Butler: 'I wish my late mother had seen How to Train Your Dragon'

Gerard Butler wishes his "amazing" mother had lived long enough to watch his new movie How to Train Your Dragon.

During a new interview with Magic Radio, the Scottish actor paid tribute to his beloved mother Margaret Coll, who died earlier this year aged 81.

Gerard revealed he was left devastated after Margaret passed away before the live action film's release.

"I was so excited for her to see it but I had a feeling she wasn't going to make it," the star explained as he choked back tears.

Gerard then thanked director Dean DeBlois for "kindly" dedicating the new movie to Margaret.

The 55-year-old actor plays Stoick the Vast in How to Train Your Dragon, and during the interview, he shared his beliefs that his character's mother would have had similar characteristics to his own mom.

"If Stoick had a mum that would have been my mum, she was an amazing woman. She was strong, she was fire and she was graceful and she was beautiful," he continued.

"I wish the whole world could have met my mum because she was a really special woman."

The 55-year-old star also recalled how Margaret recognised his acting ambitions from an early age and supported him every step of the way.

"She knew since I was a kid I wanted to be an actor," he recalled. "I was doing something that I never really loved, never cared about that didn't show any of my uniqueness in any way to be honest and I felt that I had something else going on and she embraced that."

How To Train Your Dragon, which also stars Mason Thames as Hiccup and Nico Parker as Astrid, is released worldwide this month.