Dragons and Vikings

Friday March 12, 2010

Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for a Hammersmith author when her popular series of dragon and Viking-inspired books hit the big screen earlier this year.

Cressida Cowell, 43, who lives near Ravenscourt Park with her husband and three children, is the author of How to Train Your Dragon.

The children's feature film version opened in the UK in March and boasts eye-popping 3D animation from Dreamworks, previously known for its ground-breaking visual effects in the Shrek films and Kung Fu Panda.

"They have been working on the movie for six years and it's been in production for three - but I have seen it all the way through at different stages," Cressida told h&f news.

"But it was not until last August, once they had put all the textures and colours into the animation, that I could get a real sense of what the film would be like, and that was incredibly exciting."

The new film is based on the first of Cressida's How to Train Your Dragon series of novels, which currently contains eight books but will ultimately span 10 volumes.

"I still haven't finished writing the series but I have written the ending," she said. "I didn't really write it with a film in mind, but as soon as it was out I had a lot of interest from film and television."

Cressida admitted it could be difficult to entrust a series of books to the interpretation of a group of filmmakers and animators, but Dreamworks' track record had convinced her that her story and characters were in safe hands.

"You are going to take a risk however much you love a studio or illustrator but that can also be incredibly exciting and inspiring," she said.

"I had to give it to someone who I really liked and respected, but there was a certain amount of handing over. With a book you are in charge of everything whereas with a film it's a collaborative process by its very nature. I think I have been very, very lucky."

Cressida said her novel, which centres around a boy Viking called Hiccup and his father Stoick, called for great sensitivity as well as spectacular dragon-flying sequences, and directors Chris Sanders and Dean De Blois and producer Bonnie Arnold had succeeded on both fronts.

"What interested them about the book was not just that it was about dragons and a funny adventure story - they were also very interested in the relationship between the main boy character and his father, and they tell that story in a very touching way," she said.

"That was something I felt was integral to the book and that I really wanted them to capture, and I think they have."

Dreamworks purchased the rights to the entire series of How To Train Your Dragon books late last year and Cressida said she was hopeful that more books in the series would make it to the silver screen.

"It would be so exciting, but it will depend on how it does at the box office," she said. "I think the movie works really well as a 3D film and the scenes where Hiccup is riding a dragon are amazing. You feel like you are riding the dragon."

Cressida is also optimistic that the film release will encourage a new wave of fans to pick up her novels.

"It helps you reach new readers, and readers who might not have thought about your books before," she said.

"I wrote the series with reluctant readers in mind - bright children who possibly were not reading so much for whatever reason. I wanted it to be a mixture of adventure and funniness, and I wrote it with a lot of cliff hangers because I didn't want the child to put it down."

Cressida has lived in Hammersmith for more than 20 years and attended St Paul's Girls' School in Brook Green before going to university and art school.

She has written and published 18 books in total, including picture books which she has illustrated herself and a series of three Emily Brown books illustrated by Neal Layton.

For details on Cressida's books, visit: www.cressidacowell.co.uk or www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com (links open in a new window).