Though the film is set to scamper into our cinemas next month, two more voice performers have just been added to the cast of Paddington. The filmmakers have whipped up a mini Harry Potter reunion, with Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton climbing aboard.
Despite standing on opposite sides of the conflict in the Potter films, they’ll be united for this one, playing Paddington’s Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy. In the books, Pastuzo is a globe-trotting bear of means, while Aunt Lucy is the guardian who cared for the young bear until she had to move into the Home For Retired Bears.
Paddington film finds the hirsute Peruvian immigrant arriving in London in search of a home. Alone and lost at Paddington station – hence his name – our hero starts to worry that life in the big city is not quite all it’s cracked up to be. Until, that is, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary place to stay. It’s not the end of his troubles, though, as he’s also caught the attention of a museum taxidermist with a yen for rare animals and a score to settle…
With Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters, Samuel Joslin and Madeleine Harris also among the cast and Paul King calling the shots, Paddington will be out on November 28.