REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

How To Train Your Dragon star Mason Thames is still freaking out

- ASHLEY SPENCER

Mason Thames was very, very nervous. The actor, then 15 years old, had arrived in London for another round of auditions on his quest to land the lead role in Universal’s live-action adaptation of How To Train Your Dragon, and the pressure was mounting.

He had been a toddler when the original DreamWorks Animation film was released in 2010, and he grew up obsessing over the animated trilogy about Hiccup, a teenage Viking who befriends an injured dragon named Toothless. Now, the chance to play his childhood hero was within his grasp.

As Thames fretted between chemistry readings with potential co-stars, Nico Parker, the actress who would eventually land the role of Hiccup’s love interest, Astrid, caught a glimpse of his anxious energy.

“He was pacing back and forth, and my chest hurt from how cute he was,” Parker, who was then 18, recalled. “He was just the sweetest little angel; I can’t even put it into words.”

Thames continued to be on edge as the two actors performed a scene together for the film’s executives. But when he delivered one of his scripted comedic lines, Parker broke character and burst out laughing, causing Thames to follow suit. Her flub, Thames said, instantly put him at ease and changed the course of the session.

It wasn’t until after they'd both won the roles that he learned the truth.

“She said she messed up on purpose to make me feel better because she saw how nervous I was,” Thames said. “That was the sweetest thing anybody could have ever done.” (Parker noted that she was also nervous. “I was just trying to hide it a bit more than he was.”)

For Thames, beating out more than 300 other potential Hiccups to star in the live-action How To Train Your Dragon franchise — the first film is now in cinemas, with a sequel to follow in 2027 —is the height of a fledgling career that began as a kid dancing ballet with his sister in Dallas.