HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (2019) About The Director and Cast
Dean Deblois, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Kit Harington
DEAN DEBLOIS (Written and Directed by/Executive Producer), CATE BLANCHETT (Valka), GERARD BUTLER (Stoick the Vast), JONAH HILL (Snotlout), KIT HARINGTON (Eret, Son of Eret)
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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR & CAST
Canadian-born DEAN DEBLOIS (Written and Directed by/Executive Producer) is equally at home in the worlds of live-action and animation filmmaking. Although already an accomplished animator and writer at the time the film became a worldwide hit, he became well known for writing and directing Walt Disney Animation Studios' Lilo & Stitch with Chris Sanders.
DeBlois later stepped behind the live-action camera to direct the indie critical darling Heima, which documents alternative/post-rock band Sigur Rós' series of free, unannounced concerts performed in their home country of Iceland. He also previously served as head of story on the Disney hit Mulan.
DeBlois once again collaborated with Sanders to write and direct his first film for DreamWorks Animation, How to Train Your Dragon. In addition, DeBlois is set to write, produce and direct the live-action comedy The Banshee and Fin Magee. He also has several live-action projects in development at Universal Pictures and The Walt Disney Studios, on which he is serving as writer, director and producer.
The writer/director of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World began his career at Hinton Animation Studios and worked as animator on the television series The Raccoons. He next joined Don Bluth's Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland and worked on the animated features Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park.
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CATE BLANCHETT (Valka) served as the co-artistic director and co-CEO of Sydney Theatre Company (STC), alongside Andrew Upton from 2008-2013. She is a graduate of the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art and holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. In 2014, Blanchett starred as Jasmine in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, for which she won Best Actress at the Academy Awards. Her portrayal of Jasmine also earned her the Best Actress award at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, Golden Globe Awards, British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, Film Independent Spirit Awards, and numerous critics' group awards. In 2018, Blanchett served as jury president of the 71st Cannes Film Festival in France. Her jury included Ava DuVernay, Kristen Stewart, Denis Villeneuve, Chang Chen, Robert Guediguian, Khadja Nin, Lea Seydoux and Andrey Zvyagintsev.
In 2015, Blanchett starred alongside Rooney Mara in Carol, directed by Todd Haynes and based on Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt." She received Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Film Independent Spirit and SAG award nominations for her title role in the film. Blanchett served as an executive producer on the project, which was produced in association with Dirty Films, the company that Blanchett founded with Upton. That same year, Blanchett also appeared in Truth, which also starred Robert Redford, as Mary Mapes, whose memoir "Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and the Privilege of Power" was adapted into the feature film. Dirty Films also received a producing credit in association with the film.
In 2017, Blanchett was seen in Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment of the Marvel franchise, as well as Julian Rosefeldt's Manifesto. In 2018, she starred in Ocean's Eight, the first all-female installment in the Ocean's franchise and The House with a Clock in Its Walls. She will next star in Where'd You Go, Bernadette, the film adaptation of Maria Semple's The New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, and Netflix's Mowgli.
In 2004, Blanchett won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, for which she also received BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards and a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2008, Blanchett was nominated for two Oscars: Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There, making her only the fifth actor in Academy history to be nominated in both acting categories in the same year. Additionally, she received dual SAG and BAFTA award nominations, for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and I'm Not There, respectively. For the latter, she also won a Golden Globe Award, a Film Independent Spirit Award, several critics groups awards and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.
She earned her first Oscar nomination and won her first BAFTA, Golden Globe and London Film Critics Circle Awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth. She also received Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her performance in Notes on a Scandal. Additionally, Blanchett has earned Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress for the title role in Joel Schumacher's Veronica Guerin and for her work in Barry Levinson's Bandits; and earlier, she earned another BAFTA Award nomination for her performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Blanchett originated the role of Galadriel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and reprised her role in The Hobbit trilogy. Additional film credits include George Clooney's The Monuments Men; Joe Wright's Hanna; Ridley Scott's Robin Hood; David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Steven Soderbergh's The Good German; Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel; and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Among her other film credits are Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes, for which she earned a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination; Ron Howard's The Missing; Gillian Armstrong's Charlotte Gray; Lasse Hallstrom's The Shipping News; Rowan Woods' Little Fish; Mike Newell's Pushing Tin; Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband; Sam Raimi's The Gift; Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried; Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road; Thank God He Met Lizzie, for which she won both the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actress; and Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda, for which she also earned an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Blanchett made her Broadway debut last year in the Sydney Theatre Company and Stuart Thompson production of The Present, based on Anton Chekhov's Platonov. Blanchett first starred in the production, which was written by Andrew Upton and directed by John Crowley, when it premiered in Sydney in August 2015. In 2019, she will star in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre in London. Blanchett's previous roles on stage include the titular role in Hedda Gabler for which she won the Ibsen Centennial Award, Helpmann Award and the Mo Award for Best Actress; Richard II in the celebrated STC production of The War of The Roses; Blanche Du Bois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which traveled to much acclaim from Sydney to Washington, D.C. and New York (her performance was considered the "performance of the year" by The New York Times) and for which she received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress, Non-Resident Production. She starred as Yelena in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, in a new adaptation by Upton, that toured to Washington, D.C. in 2011 and New York in 2012 to great critical acclaim and for which she received the Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play and the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress, Non-Resident Production. She also starred as Lotte in Botho Strauss' Gross und Klein, which toured extensively throughout Europe, in 2012, was part of the London Cultural Olympiad and for which she received her third Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play. Blanchett performed opposite Isabelle Huppert in STC's production of Jean Genet's The Maids, directed by Benedict Andrews and co-adapted by Upton and Andrews, for which Blanchett was honored with her fourth Helpmann Award.
In 2017, Blanchett was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in the General Division for her eminent service to the performing arts as an international stage and screen actor, through seminal contributions as director of artistic organizations, as a role model for women and young performers, and as a supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes. Blanchett has been awarded the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society through Acting, and, in 2007, she was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People. In 2012, she was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, in recognition of her significant contributions to the arts. She has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2008, Blanchett co-chaired the creative stream of the Prime Minister of Australia's National 2020 Summit. She is a patron of the Sydney Film Festival and an ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Film Institute.
Blanchett is a supporter of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency and was named the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in May 2016. She has undertaken fact-finding missions to Lebanon and Jordan to meet refugees and stateless people who have been displaced by the Syrian conflict. Blanchett is committed to raising awareness on issues of forced displacement, and, in particular, on the scourge of statelessness that affects millions of people worldwide, denying them basic rights including access to education and healthcare, and the ability to work and travel.
Blanchett resides in London with her husband and their four children.
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A gifted actor with unparalleled charm, GERARD BUTLER (Stoick the Vast) has inspired audiences across the globe with dynamic and fan-favorite roles that span a multitude of genres.
In 2019, Butler will be seen in The Vanishing, a psychological thriller based on a real-life unsolved mystery about a trio of lighthouse keepers pitted against each other on a remote Scottish island which will be in theaters and available on VOD in January 4, 2019. Additionally, he recently wrapped production on Angel Has Fallen, the third installment in the highly successful Has Fallen film series. He stars opposite Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Piper Perabo and Nick Nolte. The third film in the series follows Mike Banning (Butler) as he becomes the target of a terrorist attack, this time while mid-flight on Air Force One. Butler also makes a cameo in Jamie Foxx's feature film directorial debut All-Star Weekend, which will be in theaters February 22, 2019, and stars Jeremy Piven, Robert Downey Jr., Benicio Del Toro and Foxx himself. The story revolves around two buddy tow-truck drivers, played by Piven and Foxx, who are hardcore basketball fans that get to attend the NBA All-Star Game.
Butler can most recently be seen in STX Entertainment's hit Den of Thieves, which he starred in and produced. The story follows the intersecting lives of an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Los Angeles' most successful bank robbery as they plan a heist on the Federal Reserve Bank of downtown Los Angeles. The film also stars 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber and O'Shea Jackson, Jr.
Also in 2018, Butler starred in and produced Lionsgate's Hunter Killer, which is about an American submarine Captain on the hunt for a U.S. sub in distress when he discovers a secret Russian coup is in the offing, threatening to dismantle the world order. The movie also stars Gary Oldman, Linda Cardellini and Common.
Butler solidified himself as a leading man when he starred as the bold and heroic King Leonidas in Zack Snyder's blockbuster film, 300. The film broke box-office records in its opening weekend and went on to earn more than $450 million worldwide. Butler's other $100 million-plus films include Olympus Has Fallen; London Has Fallen; F. Gary Gray's Law Abiding Citizen, opposite Jamie Foxx; How to Train Your Dragon movies; P.S. I Love You, opposite Hilary Swank; Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, opposite Emmy Rossum; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life, opposite Angelina Jolie; Dean Devlin's Geostorm; Gods of Egypt, with Chadwick Boseman and Rufus Sewell; The Bounty Hunter, opposite Jennifer Aniston; Robert Luketic's The Ugly Truth, opposite Katherine Heigl; and Nim's Island with Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin.
In 2008, Butler and his manager, Alan Siegel, formed their production company, G-BASE, which has produced nine feature films including Them That Follow (premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival); Law Abiding Citizen; Olympus Has Fallen; the sequel London Has Fallen; Septembers of Shiraz, which was selected into the 2015 Toronto Film Festival; and The Headhunter's Calling, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. In addition to film, the company continues to produce and develop a diverse slate of projects including television series, documentaries and interactive media projects.
His other film credits include: Chasing Mavericks; Marc Forster's Machine Gun Preacher; Coriolanus; Gamer; Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla; Beowulf & Grendel; The Game of Their Lives; the independent feature Dear Frankie opposite Emily Mortimer; Timeline; Reign of Fire; John Madden's award-winning drama Her Majesty; and Mrs. Brown, which starred Judi Dench. His early work in film includes roles in Harrison's Flowers, One More Kiss, Fast Food and the screen adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard.
Butler is dedicated to charitable efforts around the world including Mary's Meals, an organization founded with the simple mission to serve one meal a day to a child in school, as well as Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), where he is a board member. APJ was established in 2009 and is a fund-raising mission founded by Paul Haggis that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and disenfranchisement in communities around the world.
Born in Scotland, Butler made his stage debut at age 12 in the musical Oliver at Glasgow's famous Kings Theatre. As a young man, his dreams of acting were temporarily deterred and he went on 'to study law for seven years before returning to the London stage in the acclaimed production of Trainspotting, and later in Snatch and the Donmar Warehouse production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer opposite Rachel Weisz.
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Two-time Academy Award nominee JONAH HILL (Snotlout) possesses an acting prowess that has put him at the forefront of Hollywood, in both the comedic and dramatic realms. Hill recently made his directorial debut with Mid '90s, a coming-of-age film that he also wrote. The film was produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush with A24, stars Katherine Waterston and Lucas Hedges, and has been named as one of the "Top 10 Independent Films of 2018" by the National Board of Review.
Hill received critical acclaim for his role in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. His portrayal of Donnie Azoff, Belfort's (DiCaprio's) close friend and partner in both business and debauchery, garnered Hill his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The Wolf of Wall Street was released by Paramount Pictures and made more than $392 million worldwide. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy, and Critics' Choice nominations for Best Picture and Best Acting Ensemble. It was also honored by AFI as one of the best movies of the year and was recognized by the National Board of Review as one of the year's top-10 films. Additionally, Hill received Variety's "Creative Impact Award for Acting" on behalf of his performance in the film.
Hill can be seen recently on Cary Fukunaga's series Maniac, with Emma Stone, on Netflix. Maniac is based on the 2014 Norwegian series, and revolves around the fantasy worlds of Hill and Stone's characters. Next, Hill will be seen starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Gus Van Sant's Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.
He was also seen in Todd Phillips' War Dogs, starring alongside Miles Teller. The film was released in August 2016, and Hill received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy on behalf of his performance. In summer 2014, he starred opposite Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street, which was released by Sony Pictures and grossed more than $330 million worldwide. The film is the sequel to 21 Jump Street, which opened at No. 1 at the box office and went on to make more than $200 million worldwide. In addition to starring in both films, Hill serves as a writer and producer of the franchise. Hill and Tatum will both return for the third installment, 23 Jump Street.
In 2011, Hill starred opposite Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Bennett Miller's Moneyball. This performance earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, in addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor-Motion Picture and a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. Moneyball was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama.
Other film credits include: the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar!, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's This Is the End, Jay and Mark Duplass' Cyrus, and several Judd Apatow films-including Hill's breakout role in Superbad, as well as Get Him to the Greek, Funny People, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. In addition to the films of the How to Train Your Dragon series, Hill has lent his voice to a number of animated projects including The LEGO Movie, Megamind, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! and Sausage Party.
Hill co-wrote, created and voiced the title character in the critically acclaimed animated series Allen Gregory for Fox Television in 2011. That same year, he also directed the Sara Bareilles music video Gonna Get Over You.
As a writer and producer, he is working on The Adventurer's Handbook, in which he will co-star alongside Jason Segel, and Pure Imagination, an Apatow-produced comedy that Hill will executive produce. Hill was as an associate producer of the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy Bruno and an executive producer of The Sitter.
Hill began his career performing one-scene plays that he wrote and performed at the gritty Black and White bar in New York City. His first feature role was in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees, with Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin.
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Born in London, KIT HARINGTON (Eret, Son of Eret) studied drama and theater at the Central School of Speech & Drama, a constituent of the University of London. Before graduating in 2008, he won the lead role of Albert in the Royal National Theatre's London production of the smash hit War Horse. The production transferred to London's West End at the New London Theatre, and he stayed with the role until 2009, after which he appeared in Posh, by Laura Wade, at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
This year, Harington will make his much-anticipated West End return in Sam Shepard's modern classic, True West.
Since 2011, Harington has starred as Jon Snow in the critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning HBO drama series Game of Thrones. With 38 Emmy Awards, Game of Thrones is the most decorated show in the ceremony's history. In 2016, he received his first Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Drama Series.
In 2018, Harington transitioned into the role of executive producer on the miniseries Gunpowder. Harington played his real-life ancestor on his mother's side, Catholic rebel Robert Catesby, who was part of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605-the failed scheme by Roman Catholic militants to blow up the House of Lords in London. The series also starred Peter Mullan, Mark Gatiss and Liv Tyler.
Past film projects include the HBO sports mockumentary 7 Days in Hell, Sony Pictures Classics' drama Testament of Youth and the big-screen adaptation of the hit British spy series Spooks: The Greater Good.
