2 weeks Ago By Tori Brazier
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video Ben Whishaw ’s dulcet tones may be instantly recognisable by now as Paddington Bear ’s, but the actor has revealed just how much actually goes into the process. Or at least, the Bafta-winning star tries to as he admits he ‘doesn’t quite know how to talk about’ one of his most popular roles, which he only inherited by happenstance after original actor Colin Firth dropped out over concerns his voice was too old. Whishaw, 44, may also be instantly recognisable as Q to Daniel Craig ’s (former) James Bond , as well as from numerous other acclaimed films and TV shows like Bright Star, Criminal Justice and This Is Going to Hurt , but Paddington has become a British blockbuster phenomenon at the global box office.
Given the way in which he was rushed into the role, he is still genuinely surprised to be back for Paddington in Peru , the marmalade-loving bear’s third adventure , chuckling when I ask if he saw himself being here a decade ago when the first film came out. ‘No, I really truly didn’t. Absolutely not.
The first film just went by in a kind of daze because I got brought in so late in the day, so I had no idea what I was doing, or really what I was involved in,’ he answers honestly. ‘I couldn’t have imagined that it would be so loved by so many people, no,’ he adds, with a notable bit of wonder at the thought. Two films later and Whishaw is intrinsically Paddington in fans’ minds – but he says that it’s still not an immediate settling back into character each film.
‘It always takes a bit of time to find the voice again, even though the voice is really just my voice,’ he laughs. ‘It’s such a hard – I don’t really even understand!’ he starts again, thinking back. ‘I guess a lot of it’s to do with making the voice fit with the animation, and, God, weird things like just knowing exactly where he is in the room or in space, or how far away the other person is.
‘It’s like trial and error, but I always I feel like my first few – two, three, four – sessions are all just discarded because they don’t work at all! But then eventually we get back into the swing.’ Whishaw is like this throughout, genuinely modest over his own talent – he was one of the youngest actors ever to play Hamlet aged 23 at the Old Vic. It’s almost like his career has happened to someone else when you talk with him.
Despite being known to avoid the limelight and excessive publicity through interviews (sorry Ben), he is relaxed today as we chat over Zoom ahead of Paddington in Peru’s release – and during the middle of his West End run in Waiting for Godot opposite Lucian Msamati. There’s no reticence when it comes to giving considered answers to questions and he seems cheerful to be discussing Paddington. He’s also the type of person who will thoughtfully answer your question – he’s in no rush to fill a silence – only to get a bit lost in it and check back that he’s answered what you were asking.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video I take him back to the early days of voicing Paddington and him trying to figure out how he would do it – he ‘distinctly’ remembers the moment he started to unlock how this iconic bear would sound while working with original director Paul King, via a simple query. ‘It’s a funny question because, well, how old is Paddington?’ Whishaw chuckles. ‘When I went into the first film, I was doing a sort of child’s voice, and then we quickly realised that that was not right at all – it had to be much more like my own register, and sometimes a bit more beary and a bit more growly.
’ So there is a difference between how Paddington Whishaw and person Whishaw sounds, it’s just more subtle than you may have initially expected. For someone as low-key as the actor is, adding an animated character to his CV has had a lovely, unexpected benefit in that he can actually enjoy the films himself, alongside their numerous fans. Or as he puts it, laughing: ‘ It’s nice not to have to look at your own face! That’s always such a weird thing.
’ Paddington contains layers – his performance being just one – and there are many other people involved in the creation of ‘the whole bear’, which helps. ‘I do feel a certain kind of – it’s not distance – but I don’t feel such a weight on me. So when I see the films – I can enjoy them in a way that I can enjoy films that I’m not in,’ he shares.
‘I don’t feel the same terror, although I do feel a great sense of responsibility, but not that kind of watching-it-through-your-fingers thing which you often feel,’ he elaborates, keen to make it clear that Paddington is not something he takes on lightly. Whishaw remembers being inspired – but also daunted – by watching a behind the scenes clip of comedy and voiceover great Robin Williams during his prep for Paddington and being ‘so in awe of what he was doing’. ‘I was like, I will never be able to do that, this is just beyond my abilities altogether,’ he laughs humbly.
‘I got roped in quite last-minute, so I was just like well, I just have to do the best I can. ‘But somewhere in my mind, I always had Robin Williams’s genius. I mean, that’s not something you can aspire to, but just [as an example] of how amazing it can be with somebody who does it brilliantly.
’ Whishaw does also provide facial expressions for Paddington to be used as an animation guide, via a camera used in his recording sessions. That means it’s him doing the famous hard stare – although with enhancement from the team who make it bearlike (‘That’s much better than it looks on me.’).
He is a big fan of Paddington’s ‘beautiful’ signature move to remind people of their manners, though, even if he doesn’t think he’s that good at it himself. It’s used to its best effect yet in the new movie, which sees the Brown family off to Peru with Paddington to visit Aunt Lucy at the Home for Retired Bears. ‘He’s such a sweet, gentle creature that I just love that he also has this absolutely fierce sense of right and wrong.
It’s then some of my favourite moments, seeing how the other people are just reduced to gibbering wrecks by this thing.’ Paddington’s fans are equally fierce – there was much furore when Paddington 2 was dethroned from its perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score back in 2021 after a single negative review was added to the site. Its 99% score still keeps it on equal footing with screen classic Citizen Kane though, which tickles Whishaw when I bring it up.
His view on why both fans and critics love the Paddington franchise so much? ‘They’re made with a great deal of love, real love and affection for the character of Paddington, for the world that he’s in, and a lot of attention to detail. I think they’re really honed, they’re really chiselled away at, so that there’s no fat on them.’ A joke, a moment, a poignant beat – as Whishaw advises, ‘there’s nothing there that doesn’t need to be there, which is true of all really good storytelling’.
Taking it back to creator and author Michael Bond, who first published a Paddington book in 1958, he adds: ‘It speaks to some really decent part of human beings or something we could at least aspire to be.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video He then suggests that the appeal and success is a bit of mystery before being polite enough to ask if I have any ideas on the matter. More Trending Paddington Bear's British passport is an insult Paddington in Peru charms the birds off the trees with its star power The London street tired of being 'pimped out' for Paddington Netflix viewers counting down to see ‘queen of period dramas kick butt’ in new thriller I talk briefly on the message of Paddington in Peru, which delves into deeper ideas than most family films with its message about belonging vs citizenship as he leans in, nodding enthusiastically, while I’m fielding messages from PRs to wrap up the interview.
Another clear answer aside from the above is the Paddington movies’ ability to attract top-drawer, international talent – like Whishaw, and Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in previous films, as well as Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas this time around, both of who are clearly having a whale of a time. And that makes it even more fun for fans to watch themselves. Paddington in Peru is in cinemas from Friday 8 November.
Ben Whishaw appears in Waiting for Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 21. Got a story? If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.
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