After the box-office triumph that was Paddington – enough takings to keep the bear in grade A marmalade for perpetuity – it was always a matter of when, not if the sequel would get underway. Well, Paddington 2 is underway now and has added more British and Irish acting royalty to its ursine ranks. Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson are both joining the fun.
The Pirates! pairing of Grant (The Pirate Captain) and Gleeson (The Pirate With Gout) will be playing fêted thespian Phoenix Buchanan, a local Windsor Gardens celebrity, and safe breaker and muscleman ‘Knuckles’ McGinty respectively.
McGinty will be an unlikely ally for our young bear friend as he hunts for the thief of a rare pop-up book stolen from Mr. Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop. Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) is back for the second instalment and Paddington had earmarked the book as a gift for her hundreth birthday, working at odd jobs to save the money to buy it.
"It has been a complete joy to return to the world of Paddington,” say director Paul King and producer David Heyman in a statement. "It was such a delight to see his first big-screen adventure embraced by audiences around the world, and I couldn’t be more excited about Hugh and Brendan joining the cast to bring his next outing to life. Together, I hope we can make a film worthy of this most exceptional of bears.”
The full Paddington roster – less Nicole Kidman’s doomed taxidermist – will be back for the spectacled bear’s return, including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin. Ben Whishaw will once again voice the bear.
King co-wrote the Paddington 2 script with Simon Farnaby and production is officially underway. The big question, though: will Farnaby’s Barry the security guard be back too? Find out when its released in the UK on 10 November, 2017.