How to Train Your Dragon director talks helming both the animated movie and live-action remake: "I want to make sure that we don’t lose the spirit of it"

Dean DeBlois says he's hoping for the best when it comes to the release of the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon.

“I just prepared myself from day one," DeBlois says in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features M3GAN 2.0 on the cover and hits newsstands on Wednesday, May 21. "The moment Universal approached me about the idea of doing this, I thought, ‘Well, I want to come at it from a protective point of view. I want to make sure that we don’t lose the spirit of it."

DeBlois wrote and directed the original film, which hit theaters back in 2010 and became a childhood classic for a new generation. The live-action remake, also written and directed by DeBlois, stars Mason Thames (The Black Phone) as Hiccup and Nico Parker (The Last of Us) as Astrid.

If there's anything we've noticed from the trailer, it's that Thames' take on Hiccup doesn't utilize the same voice/inflection as Jay Baruchel's Hiccup in the original animated movie - something that fans might be a little upset with. Especially since the How to Train Your Dragon experience at Universal Studios' Epic Universe - which has gone viral in the hundreds of millions - features actors who are animated movie-accurate, including a Hiccup who not only embodies Baruchel's distinct accent, but has the hairpiece to match.

"I also know it’s going to be polarising, I know there are going to be people that say, 'You shouldn’t bother, you ruined my childhood.' But we always approached it with love and respect for the material, just with an eye to making it even better, with the hope the two can live alongside each other."

The cast includes Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, Nick Frost as Gobber the Belch, Julian Dennison as Fishlegs Ingerman, Hiccup's best friend, Gabriel Howell as Snotlout Jorgenson, Bronwyn James as Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut's twin sister, Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut Thorston, Ruffnut's twin brother, and Ruth Codd.

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How to Train Your Dragon releases on June 13. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which will be available from Wednesday, May 21. Check out the M3GAN 2.0 cover you need to be looking out for on newsstands above...