Former Aylmer student wins Golden Globe
Laurent Robillard-Cardinal
What a way to start 2015 for former Aylmerite Dean DeBlois. First the film director wins a Golden Globe for best animated feature on January 11 for How To Train Your Dragon 2 and he’s nominated for an Oscar in the best animated feature category. Born in Brockville in 1970, DeBlois moved to Aylmer at a young age and attended St. Mark’s Elementary (Lord Aylmer today) before graduating from D'Arcy McGee High School. DeBlois had a fertile imagination from the beginning and, thankfully for his fans, certain teachers promoted it.
“From the very start I had teachers who encouraged me to draw and write stories. My grade one teacher, Mrs. Donlan, was especially supportive of my artwork, and her support gave me confidence to continue,” DeBlois told the Bulletin in an e-mail interview. “Throughout elementary school at St. Mark's, drawing became part of my identity, and my teachers continued to push me, both in drawing and writing. There were many outlets to express my creative side, and one project on Native Canadian communities even made it into the Aylmer Bulletin! As part of St. Mark’s first French Immersion program, our class was treated to many museum visits, field trips, and even a student exchange with children from Quebec City. It definitely broadened my mind.”
Apart from school, the bygone Aylmer, featuring more trees and less concrete, served as fertile ground to fuel DeBlois’ creativity. “So much of Aylmer felt wild and unexplored. When my family moved to Glenwood in 1975, much of the Aylmer we know today was undeveloped. There were lots of wooded fields between housing projects and we would spend our summers exploring trails and building forts. Aylmer had a kind of magic and mystery for me,” indicated Deblois. “I imagined things that weren't there, like bank robbers, secret societies, and haunted places. We lived behind a big old house on rue Principale that I was convinced was home to all sorts of ghosts. When it burned down many years later, the sprawling grounds were paved over to make room for a pharmacy and a small strip mall. It was sad, a part of my childhood wonder was gone forever,” admitted DeBlois.
After concocting many fictional stories featuring all sorts of malevolent creatures roaming Aylmer streets and backyards by night, the creative DeBlois pursued his interest in animation at Sheridan College in Oakville. Upon graduation, he moved around and finally settled in Los Angeles, a city which he has called home for the past 20 years. That’s where DeBlois continues to create fanciful adventures, such as How to Train Your Dragon 3, forecasted for 2017. The adapted franchise How To Train Your Dragon, inspired by Cressida Cowell’s books, was initially co-written by DeBlois and started appearing on the big screen in 2010.
The first movie tells the story of Hiccup, voiced by Jay Baruchel, a Viking teenager who deviates from his tribe’s tradition. Instead of following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Hiccup trains his captured dragon rather than slaying it. In the sequel, produced by DreamWorks Animation, a more mature Hiccup must, in the midst of a family drama, rise above various challenges as he faces the evil conqueror Drago Bludvist.
As DeBlois adapted the books, he noticed certain similarities between the Viking Isle of Berk, the setting in the How To Train Your Dragon series, and the Aylmer of his youth. “Berk was designed to be a wild, dangerous, larger-than-life location to make Hiccup feel small in his world. I certainly felt that way about Aylmer, if only in my imagination,” said the creative Deblois, who also shared a few resemblances with Hiccup, the main character. “Aside from a natural ability to draw and a tenacious curiosity for all things forbidden, I also lost my father when I was just nineteen, which left me feeling unprepared to face the realities of adulthood. Suddenly, all of those trivial memories, like fishing with my father, times spent in his workshop, or barbecues in the backyard, took on greater meaning. There were so many life lessons in those moments that helped me to become a man. Respect for others, love of community, and a strong loyalty to family -- these were the values I wrote into Hiccup's character as well,” indicated DeBlois.
The love of community is certainly something the Aylmer writer cherishes, as is his time spent in the small bilingual community he once called home. “I have so many fond memories in Aylmer that it would be difficult to pick just one. Long summers spent outside without a care in the world. Our Winter Olympics ice rink and bobsled runs in the back yard. It was such a Calvin & Hobbes-like existence,” said DeBlois, who also appreciated the nice man at the Glenwood smoke shop who would let him read all of the comic books on the rack. “We didn't have much money, but it didn't really matter. It was a perfect place to grow up.”
