Gerard Butler had 'intense' experience wearing heavy How to Train Your Dragon costume

Gerard Butler has admitted he had an "intense" experience filming in a "really heavy" Viking costume for the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake.

In the 2010 animated film, the Scottish actor voiced the Viking leader Stoick, who protects his people in their fight against the dragons on the fictional island of Berk.

Butler returned to embody Stoick for the new live-action remake, and he admitted that wearing his character's outfit was no walk in the park. However, there was an upside, as the costume kept him warm amid the cold temperatures in Northern Ireland in early 2024.

"When I was working, I was hot. Everyone else was cold, but I had seven layers on. That costume was really heavy. I wore that for nine weeks," he told BBC News. "When I'd everything on, it was 90 lbs (40.8kg).

"It was intense, but it also meant I could fully transform into Stoick - I felt like when I stepped onto that set, I've got that helmet, I'm like eight feet tall, like 'I'm here, it's hard not to notice.'"

The 300 actor, who voiced Stoick in two sequels and shorts, spent several months filming in Titanic Studios and Belfast Harbour Studios in the Northern Irish capital and he couldn't believe how the local crew recreated the village of Berk as it appears in the animations.

"These sets are some of the best ever built," he praised. "Because when you watch these animated films, you say how (are) you ever making this? How (are) you going to pull this off. And we did it."

How to Train Your Dragon is in cinemas now. A live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is currently in the works.