Say WHAT! Paddington Bear ACTUALLY gets UK Passport From Home Office
United Kingdom’s favourite Paddington Bear has been granted a UK Passport, as per the co-producer of his latest film. As per a report in The Guardian, Paddington Bear, official name Paddington Brown, has been granted a British passport. Co-producer of the latest Paddington film has just revealed that the Home Office has indeed issued the specimen document to the fictional Peruvian-born character.
As per the report, co-producer Rob Silva told Radio Times, “We wrote to the Home Office asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these.”
He then went on to produce the document with the photo of Paddington inside it, adding, “You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.”
Ben Whishaw, who voices the beloved bear in the upcoming film, unfortunately didn’t get to use his passport to travel to Peru, as he spent the entire production locked in a London recording studio. He never even met his co-stars, stating, “I never met Antonio [Banderas] or Olivia [Colman] for this film, but I hope I will at some point, because I watched their performances and enjoyed them so enormously. On Paddington 2, I never saw Hugh Grant, not once.” He added, “I would have loved to have gone to Peru and Colombia, but I didn’t get to go. I was just in a basement in Soho the entire time.”
While some actors feel a strong connection to their characters, Ben Whishaw, during the interview admitted that he doesn’t enjoy the marmalade that makes Paddington’s favourite sandwiches. “It really doesn’t agree with me at all, but I am a big Marmite lover. Marmite with Lurpak butter on toast is, to me, pretty much heaven,” he said.
In the latest film—the third in the franchise—the duffel-coated bear travels to his birthplace to visit his Aunt Lucy. However, he learns from the guitar-playing nun who runs the home for retired bears that his aunt went missing during a scientific mission. Olivia Colman plays the nun, while Antonio Banderas portrays a swashbuckling sailor who assists them in their quest to find her.
But who exactly is Paddington Bear?
Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children’s literature, first appearing on October 13, 1958. The bear has since then forayed into cinema with the 2014 Paddington and the 2017 Paddington 2.