Nico Parker totally sees the irony in her situation. Her character, Astrid in the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, became known and beloved for her courage in the 2010 animated original but also for the way she mocks the film’s lead for his nepo baby status. Now Nico, the 20-year-old daughter of Westworld star Thandiwe Newton, and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker, finds this funny. “It felt like kinda loose role swapping.”
We’re speaking on the tail end of a Friday, and Nico is late to our interview for an incredibly relatable reason: She lost track of time while stalking people on Instagram. It’s how she’s chosen to spend her rare day off, along with bingeing true-crime shows and taking “the longest shower you’ve ever seen in your life.” She’s earned this respite. Lately, she’s been traveling worldwide to promote the highly anticipated HTTYD adaptation, which has called her social battery and her ability to rest into question. “I kind of find myself waking up in the middle of the night as if I have something to do.” But while the whole global promotion thing can still feel a bit surreal, Nico credits her costar, Mason Thames, for grounding her amid the madness. “He feels beyond essential to have. I cannot imagine doing this process with anyone else.”
But I’d credit her own imperturbability and composure, which I was made aware of as she explained to me her thoughts on negative online noise, particularly concerning her casting. (When it was announced, naysayers online took it as an opportunity to focus on the obvious: the animated original and very fictional Astrid was blonde, and Nico is not.) So, after graciously taking a break from her day-off activities, Nico took time to give us a debrief on how she handles toxic fandom, her deep bond with Mason, and what she cherishes the most about Astrid.
What’s the global press tour experience been like, and how are you surviving? I feel like it must be really taxing.
If you enjoy the project, it is actually kind of a privilege, because you get to spread the word of something that you love and work with people you love. I just adore Mason, and so getting to do it with him is amazing. Going into it, all of my team was like, “If you need anything, just let us know.” And I was like, “Guys, it’s just press, don’t worry about me.” Then, within the Orlando to Brazil [leg], I was like, “Uh-oh.”
It’s not that it isn’t an absolute privilege, but more so, it’s just a lot of talking and a lot of travel. And having to be “on” all the time. It’s like you should go home and rest, but you can’t really rest, because your brain is still on. And you’re still trying to make sense of things and post nice pictures from that day or whatever. But at the same time, it’s actually been wonderful, and as soon as it’s over, I’ll miss it.
Do you have a high social battery? Or is this forcing you to push yourself a bit?
I feel like I don’t give my social battery enough credit. I think that I am an introverted extrovert because I inherently gain energy from social interaction. But my kind of anxious nature is not to do that in any way. I do have this capability for things like doing press. But the idea of them is more stressful than actually doing them.
So once you’re there, you can hang.
Yeah. Once I’m there and it starts, I feel like I’m in a groove, and then one interview will end and that’s when I’m kind of staring at the floor, feeling void of any human emotion.
I used to do press junkets all the time, and I was always just amazed by the idea of actors doing one four-minute conversation after another all day. Like, how do you present something new in each one?
I remember doing press when I was younger, saying to my mom, “I love it when they ask me the same question, because it means that I can just say the same thing.” But I was obviously an idiot because, actually, new questions are so lovely. Because there’s something actually really difficult about having to reframe the same answer but in a way that sounds different. So I don’t know what I was talking about, but I said that to my mom the other day, and she was like, “Well, you did say when you were younger…”
Speaking of your mom, as I was watching this, I found it interesting that one of the main storylines is Hiccup being faced with upholding his father’s legacy. You've been honest about confronting that same sort of thing because of your mom’s career. Was that parallel something that came to mind as you were filming?
Yeah, there’s definitely something in it that felt ironic in a way. I don’t necessarily feel a pressure to live up to any expectations or anything. But it’s important to be willing to give full credit to your parents in any regard.
I love the looks you put together for this press tour. Is that exciting for you?
It’s one of my favorite parts! I think that’s the press element that I was the most looking forward to because I love wearing clothes and trying on clothes. I think it’s really fun self-expression. It’s been really fun and a super-collaborative process. I feel very lucky to get to do it.
That drapey blue dress was everything.
It was super comfy, actually! Not the shoes, but the dress itself was a dream. One day, we’d been doing press all day when we went to the London screening, and I was so tired and jet-lagged and just couldn’t be bothered. So my pain threshold, which is normally quite high for shoes, was just on the floor. I did some interviews, and I took my shoes off, and I was like, “Guys, you promise you can’t see my feet any of these?” And they were like, “No, absolutely don’t worry.” And then I saw a full body picture of Mason and I, and the dogs were out.
When you were developing your version of Astrid, what type of music would you listen to to get in her headspace?
I’m a huge playlist person. It’s, like, cliché and annoying. People are always like, “We get it, you made a playlist.”
I think it’s cute!
That is always my go-to. It’s funny, because a lot of the time, the songs feel very specific to the character and to the story or they only really make sense to me in terms of how they correlate. But for this one, it so many of the songs from the [original film’s] score. To give full credit to John Powell, that score is really iconic. Mason and I were both saying it kind of feels like cheating in a way—you already have this [original] thing that feels incredibly accurate. So that and Destiny’s Child, I would say—“Survivor.” The songs that went on there were there because I was like, “Okay, Astrid’s a bad bitch, who are some bad bitches that I know?” So Destiny’s Child obviously gonna be on there.
Do you think she’s someone you’d befriend in real life? Or do you think there’d be a hurdle to that relationship?
I think there’d be a hurdle. I think I’d be, like, so unimpressive by comparison. I don’t try to be friends with people who don’t want to be friends with me, but I think that she’d probably find me uninspiring.
What zodiac sign do you think Astrid is?
Capricorn or Virgo, 100 percent. My best friend is a Capricorn, and she’s ambitious, specifically in a kind of school way. Their version of school is arena training. So I think of how clever my best friend is at essays at her university, to me that’s of a similar correspondence to how Astrid is when it comes to axe training. And then Virgo, because she’s so particular and type A, but Capricorn is, I think, better also. Capricorn is a rare star sign, and I think she’s a pretty rare character.
The How to Train Your Dragon superfandom is loud. What’s your relationship like with those fans? Do you pay attention to what conversations are happening online?
I definitely don’t want to get superfandom confused with bigotry. Because people use “I’m actually a huge fan of this” as a cop-out [excuse for] being prejudiced. Because I don’t think those people are superfans. That’s the kind of thing I don’t embrace, and those aren’t opinions that I value. That discourse isn’t anything that I could ever take home with me, because it’s just not about me. It’s about a much, much bigger thing. And that’s really sad. It would be easier if it were just specific to me, because at least it’s, like, not this huge, swooping thing that affects lots of people and lots of movies and TV shows.
But then there are people whose best version of a live-action or a new version of something is to see exactly what they envisioned. And I can understand that viewpoint. It’s more something I hope people can look past and enjoy things regardless of that. Hair isn’t the thing that makes someone a character. And eye color isn’t gonna change your performance. And so that’s something I hope people can look beyond. If you can’t, you can’t, and the animated movies are there for a reason. Mason says this all the time, but this movie is absolutely a love letter to the original. We’re not trying to take away from things already there. This movie is made by fans and for fans. I hope the die-hard fans can feel that an abundance of love and care was poured into it. But as for people on the other kind of side of discourse, I feel like it’s their dream to think I’m staying up at night reading comments, but I’m sleeping through it peacefully.
On the more positive side of the internet, you and Mason’s dynamic has really got the feeds talking. Have you guys seen any of the ’shipping edits?
[laughs] While we’re in the press circus, we’ve be phones off and not too involved. Because you don’t wanna be too self-aware when you’re doing press. But also, like, Mason’s great! I just feel very appreciative for him. That ties into fan edits and stuff, but it also ties into people being angry on the internet. He’s an absolute support system, and I feel very lucky I get to have him in my life.
