Why Olivia Colman found Paddington 3's musical sequence "really hard"
Ever since the first trailer dropped for Paddington in Peru, we've been excited to see Olivia Colman's Sound of Music-esque musical number.
Colman was just as excited about the prospect of joining one of the most beloved franchises around, joking to Digital Spy that she "would have done it for free", adding: "But my agent gets quite panicky when I say things like that."
But when it came to filming one of the standout moments of Paddington 3, that musical number turned out to be more difficult than expected.
"It turns out people who can sing and play the instrument and move, it's really hard. I had to do one song, but it just makes suddenly you think of going to see anyone performing on stage, like Beyoncé with dance routines and singing," Colman reflected.
"I had a very long skirt and thankfully Jen White, the choreographer, said, 'Well, luckily the skirt hides your feet' because I was going, 'I literally can't do everything all at the same time', and so I was pretending [up here] and pretending [down here] and it's really hard."
Of course, Colman managed to pull off the musical number, which sees her Reverend Mother get the Home for Retired Bears prepared for the visit of Paddington and the Browns.
The movie led to a reunion for Colman with Hugh Bonneville as the two starred together in BBC comedies Twenty Twelve and its sequel series W1A.
"Having worked with her before, I know quite how brilliant she is and it was great because I could say, 'Quick, test me on my lines' because that's what we used to do in Twenty Twelve," Bonneville said.
"But she really embraced this part and clearly is having an absolute ball with it, as is Antonio [Banderas], who's a proper team player, one of the gang and led from the front. I think he had a lot of fun playing his nod to Fitzcarraldo."
Banderas almost got his own musical number in a credit scene that was ultimately cut and never filmed. Both newcomers prove to be worthy successors to Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in terms of Paddington guest stars.
Colman being in a Paddington movie seems such a perfect fit, but even director Dougal Wilson didn't expect everything she delivered.
"I'd never supposed I had the same imagination as those two in terms of what the performance was going to be. When we were considering who was going to play those roles, as soon as those names were suggested, I thought, 'Of course, who else?'," he said.
"But until Olivia is on set, wearing her costume, interacting with Paddington, then all this other magic comes out, because it's all the little ideas that they have."
Paddington in Peru is released in UK cinemas on November 8 and in US cinemas on January 17, 2025.
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