Gerard Butler was all too perfect to play a viking chief in How to Train Your Dragon.

Costar Mason Thames, who plays Hiccup in the 2025 live-action remake of the beloved animated movie series, recounts how the 55-year-old Scottish actor evoked an intimidating viking spirit while filming.

“When he would walk on set, you would feel that presence,” Thames, 17, says of Butler, who reprises his role of Stoick the Vast from the animated films. “It’s insane to see it in person and him bringing that character to life with the voice, the energy, the giant brute force that Stoick is — him bringing that to life was so incredible to watch.”

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Thames notes that Butler, who has previously played intimidating characters such as Leonidas the King of Sparta in 300, was impressive to witness once he transformed into mighty Chieftain of Berk.

“I feel like he would walk on set and everybody would kind of cower a little bit, including myself,” Thames says, describing how people would see Butler in full costume and makeup — beard, armor and all — and call him “chief.”

The Black Phone 2 actor says that working with Butler and “building chemistry” as they tackled their father-son dynamic for the film was enjoyable because of the “energy” he brought to set.

The new film is directed by Dean DeBlois, director of the animated How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, The three animated films, inspired by author Cressida Cowell’s bestselling book series, came out in 2010, 2014 and 2019, and each earned Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature.

The new How to Train Your Dragon also stars Nico Parker as the intrepid Astrid, Hiccup’s love interest and Nick Frost as Gobber, Hiccup’s mentor.

The cast also features Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Ruth Codd, Peter Serafinowicz and Murray McArthur.

A synopsis for the film teases, “On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup stands apart. The inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast, Hiccup defies centuries of tradition when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury dragon. Their unlikely bond reveals the true nature of dragons, challenging the very foundations of Viking society.”

How to Train Your Dragon is now in theaters.

Gone but never forgotten: How to Train Your Dragon ends with a touching tribute to Gerard Butler’s late mom.

Audiences who stay through the very end of the credits for the film will see a note reading, “Dedicated to the loving memory of Margaret Coll.” The Scottish actor’s mother passed away in February at 81, according to PEOPLE.

Butler, who voiced the character of Viking Chief Stoick in the animated films and reprised the part in the new live-action remake, opened up about the surprise dedication in a new interview with UK-based radio station Magic Radio.

“I was so excited for her to see it, but I had a feeling she wasn’t going to make it. So Dean very kindly dedicated the movie to her,” Butler said, referring to writer-director Dean DeBlois.

“If Stoick had a mum, that would have been my mum,” Butler added. “She was an amazing woman, but she was strong, she was fiery, and she was graceful, and she was beautiful.”

The film, like the original 2010 animated hit of the same name, follows outcast Viking teen Hiccup (Mason Thames), who discovers he’s not like everyone else and cannot kill the dragons inhabiting the isle of Berk. He comes into his own and changes the fates of both Berk and dragons forever when he befriends one instead — the Night Fury Toothless — and learns their true ways.

Butler also opened up about why the film is so special to him, namely, that he relates to Hiccup’s story — though his mom was more supportive than Stoick is of his son’s interests.

“She wrote me the most beautiful letter, and she said, ‘Look son, end of the day, I want you to be happy, and I love you no matter what. And if this is what you want to do —'” he said, adding that she knew since Butler “was a kid” that he “wanted to be an actor.”

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“It’s this movie — it really is,” he continued. “But it’s the opposite, because I was doing something that I never really loved [before acting], never cared about, that didn’t show any of my uniqueness, and anyway to be honest, I felt that something else was going on, and she embraced that.”

For his part, DeBlois told The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted to surprise Butler with the dedication in the film.

“I knew that the loss of his mother was a deeply felt wound and that he was having a tough time recovering from it,” DeBlois said. “So to honor her with a dedication in the credits just seemed like the right thing to do in that moment.”

How to Train Your Dragon, which also stars Nico Parker, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, and Peter Serafinowicz, hits theaters Friday.