Advertisement

Hear Ben Whishaw As The Voice Of Paddington Bear (Exclusive)

After a couple of trailers for ‘Paddington' gave us a look at the CG bear in action, we now get to hear Paddington's voice for the first time thanks to this brand new exclusive featurette. Watch the video, which has been released to coincide with the 56th anniversary of the first Paddington book, above.

'Skyfall's Q Ben Whishaw, is the man entrusted to lend the ursine adventurer his vocal chords, and from the brief snippets we hear in this new video he was a canny choice. However, it very nearly wasn't Whishaw's voice that the filmmakers were going to use.

Ben Whishaw Paddington
Ben Whishaw Paddington

Colin Firth was initially cast as Paddington, but he parted ways with the production at the eleventh hour. Paraphrasing Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, he announced in June “After a period of denial, we’ve chosen ‘conscious uncoupling’.”

Watch First Paddington Trailer
Ben Whishaw Joins Paddington
First Look At Pixar’s Inside Out

"It’s been bittersweet to see this delightful creature take shape and come to the sad realisation that he simply doesn’t have my voice," Firth told Entertainment Weekly.

Paddington Still
Paddington Still

Producer David Heyman, the Brit behind the Harry Potter films, says “As soon as [Ben Whishaw’s] voice and Paddington came together, we really felt that the bear was finally coming to life.”

Karen Jankel, the daughter of author Michael Bond, says she felt emotional seeing her father’s creation brought to life.

Sally Hawkins in Paddington
Sally Hawkins in Paddington

"I actually was almost moved to tears," she says, "Because, for me it was bringing to life the bear that was so real to me."

"I think they’ve got him absolutely right."

One aspect of Paddington that you may notice is missing is his famous wellies, but Heyman says that’s because they wanted to stay faithful to the original books.

Paddington concept art
Paddington concept art

"We don’t have his wellington boots… they were born in part, so that the [toy] bears could stand."

Well, you learn something new every day!

'Paddington' is coming to cinemas on 28 November.

Warwick Davis Joins Star Wars 7
Back To The Future 4 Wil NEVER Happen
Emperor Palpatine’s First Name Revealed

Image credit: Studiocanal