Ben Whishaw at the Paddington 2 premiere in 2017. Image: Stills Press / Alamy Stock Photo
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After two hugely popular big screen films, expectations for the much-anticipated third Paddington film are sky-high. It’s a responsibility Ben Whishaw, who voices the marmalade-loving bear, is well aware of.
“You don’t want to let people down. No, you really don’t,” Whishaw says about Paddington in Peru, and he clearly means it. “Definitely felt the pressure to keep the bar high because Paddington’s something bigger than all of us that you want to serve well.
“He’s full of goodness in a way that is not irritating, which is such a hard thing to pull off. It’s so fine, to get that balance right and to keep the humour and the sincerity together.”
Ben Whishaw gives Paddington a spirit of grace and playful affability. He’s prolific on screen, from James Bond to This Is Going To Hurt, but most recognisable – when speaking at least – as Paddington.
At the moment he’s starring as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot in the West End. From one project that sums up everything in a three-word title to another, what can he tell us about what to expect from Paddington in Peru?
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“Well, at the very beginning of the film, Paddington has got his British passport, and he’s very excited, because he’s officially British now,” Whishaw tells Big Issue. “But then he gets a note from the Home for Retired Bears about his Aunt Lucy. And It’s a very concerning note. I don’t want to give too much away, but the whole of the Brown family ends up flying to Peru to visit and Aunt Lucy is not where they believed she would be. It becomes a kind of adventure into the rainforest. Many things go wrong.
“The previous two films have been London-centred and this is an exploration of what happens when Paddington returns to the wild. It is almost like an adventure film but with certain qualities and scenarios that are familiar from the previous two films.
“Our director, Dougal Wilson [taking over from Paul King] has done a brilliant job of a really difficult task. I’m really impressed by his dedication and how he’s made it his own, which is all anyone can do, really.”
Undoubtedly, the world would be a better place if everybody was a bit more like Paddington. So if we were to uncover the Paddington that lies within, who better to ask how to find him than Ben Whishaw?
For the last year – up until early October – Ben Wishaw has been periodically recording sessions for Paddington in Peru. The character is not one he can easily switch on and off.
Image: foto-zone / Alamy
“I always have a moment when I get self-conscious, and you have to completely let go of that,” he says. “You have to be prepared to be totally stupid and silly and fail and get it wrong many, many times.
“It’s quite a thing. You have to stand in front of the microphone and make weird growls and try out lines that are being rewritten, and you can’t find the voice and it’s all wrong. It just doesn’t work if there’s any sort of knowingness, falls flat if you try. He has to have a purity, an innocence. You have to be like a kid again, in a way, and be prepared to fail and be prepared to be silly and somewhere in there, slowly, it starts to come about.”
Perhaps that is the key to the cross-generational success of the films. It allows adults to unlock a sillier and more open side of themselves. And his longevity confirms that we still value things like politeness and respect and trying to do the right thing.
“I’d like to hope so,” says Whishaw. “I think it appeals to some beautiful part of us that still has a kind of innocence. That is in all of us. We may fail to live like that, but we somehow know that it exists. You can’t unravel what’s going on too much. It’s just a magical thing that works sometimes, somehow.”
When the first film was released, the hostile environment was government policy, and in entered this immigrant who embodied the best of British.
“He represents truly lovely things,” Whishaw says. “And he brings delight and he’s kind and entirely uncynical. Why are we so scared of being uncynical? It’s so interesting, isn’t it, we’re so armoured as people, as adults. And I think he does allow a little bit of that armour to come down.
“I love that there is a quiet political message running through the films and inherent in the character. But I’m also aware that it’s easy to feel very tender towards a cartoon bear, yet we fail to extend those feelings towards other real humans. So I’m reluctant to draw too many parallels. But it’s a start.
“I hope that we, all of us, can improve the dialogue and the discourse around these issues of vulnerable people, I really do. And if the Paddington films contribute something to that discussion, then brilliant.”
Paddington in Peru is in UK cinemas on 8 November.
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