Bryce Dallas Howard: Pete’s Dragon has made me a cool mom

Bryce Dallas Howard has become a cool parent because her children think she’s made a movie with a real life dragon.

The 35-year-old actress has two kids, nine-year-old son Theodore and four-year-old daughter Beatrice, with her actor husband Seth Gabel and they have now seen their mother’s latest film, the Disney remake of the studio’s 1977 classic ‘Pete’s Dragon’.

Rather than thinking Elliott the Dragon – the best friend of young orphan Pete, played by Oakes Fegley – is a CGI creation, Bryce’s kids were convinced the mythical creature was real, earning her some major kudos at home.

She said: "I think the idea of there being a real boy whose best friend is a dragon, the film feels like a real world where a dragon exists. This film is very grounded, it’s very much of this world. It feels timeless, you don’t quite know when it’s set. But it’s a very grounded world but there’s a dragon and the dragon looks very real and fits into the world, so that is just wish fulfillment for me.

"When I got to ride on the back of Elliott, I was screaming, ‘I’m in my mid-30s and I’m riding on the back of a dragon!’ It was very exciting for me. I’ve got kids and their first thought when they first saw it was not, ‘Oh Eliot is a CGI character.’ They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, you worked with a dragon!’ And that’s the best feeling. It made me cooler than I usually am to the kids."

Bryce was delighted to land the role of forest ranger Grace Meacham in ‘Pete’s Dragon’ because when she and her sisters, twins Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Howard, and brother Reed Howard were growing up the original live action/animation crossover was one of their favorite films.

Bryce and her siblings watched it so much their VHS video copy wore out.

Bryce – who is the daughter of filmmaker Ron Howard and his wife Cheryl Alley – said: "I was born in 1981 so it was just one of the earlier movies in my life that I became obsessed with. The VHS copy of that film just got completely worn out.

"When I told my little sister that I was going to be doing ‘Pete’s Dragon’ she actually burst into tears. She was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s like our childhood all over again!’ "

Bryce was in London on Sunday (07.31.16) for a special screening of ‘Pete’s Dragon’ held at the Ham Yard Hotel.

The flame-haired beauty was joined at the event by her father Ron, 62, and a host of celebrity guests including actress Natalie Anderson, Jenni Falconer and Linda Robson.