Trivia / Paddington (2014)

• Acting for Two: Jim Broadbent also provides the voice of Judy's Chinese lesson tapes.
• Actor-Shared Background: Sally Hawkins plays an illustrator of children's books, a career her parents had.
• All-Star Cast: If you can think of any notable British actor or comedian, then they are likely in this film; Sally Hawkins, Simon Farnaby, Hugh Bonneville, Matt Lucas, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent, Ben Whishaw, Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton.
• Approval of God: Although he had his initial misgivings about the film, Michael Bond gave the finished film his approval when he saw it.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Nicole Kidman's agent originally considered rejecting the part of Millicent, before passing it on to Kidman. The agent casually mentioned the offer, thinking Kidman would turn it down immediately. However, to her surprise, she was met by an enthusiastic reaction from Kidman, who was eager to appear in this movie, as she is a childhood fan of Michael Bond's books.
• California Doubling: "Darkest Peru" was actually shot in Costa Rica and the first shooting days of the movie were there. Many members of the British crew flew to Costa Rica and many locals were hired.
• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • The Japanese dub features film and television actor Tori Matsuzaka (a.k.a. Takeru Shiba) as Paddington, actor Arata Furuta as Mr. Brown, singer and narrator Yuki Saito^note Who was the singer for Maison Ikkoku's first opening theme and portrayed the titular character in the 1985 Sukeban Deka TV series as Mrs. Brown, model and actress Natsume Mito as Judy and actress Yoshino Kimura as Millicent Clyde.
  • In the Ukrainian dub, Paddington is voiced by comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who played the country's president in Servant of the People and was eventually elected president of Ukraine in 2019, then became known to the whole world during the Russian invasion of the country in 2022.
• Channel Hop: The sequel was distributed in North America through Warner Bros. instead of The Weinstein Company because of TWC founder Harvey Weinstein being accused by multiple women of sexual assault going back decades. Coincidentally, Warner Bros. had already released both movies in Spain.
• Dump Months: Both films were dumped in January in the United States, a couple months after they debut in France and the UK, hence why both films performed modestly in America.
• Executive Meddling: Nicole Kidman learned how to twirl and throw knives. During shooting, producers actually asked her to tone it down, as it was considered too intense for a children's film. Ultimately, any scenes with Millicent throwing knives were cut.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: Paul King worked on this movie for five years. His wife said that the night after the premiere was the first time he had slept peacefully in three years.
• Fake Brit: Nicole Kidman is Australian and plays the English Millicent Clyde. Scottish Peter Capaldi also puts on an English accent to play Mr Curry.
• Fake Nationality:
  • The Peruvian bears are voiced by the English Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton and the Irish Michael Gambon. But since they were taught English by a British explorer, they all keep their natural accents.
  • British Jim Broadbent plays the Hungarian Dr Gruber. Michael Bond was initially skeptical, wanting a foreign actor for the part - as Dr Gruber had been based on his own agent, a German Jew. However he gave Broadbent his approval.
• Fake Scot: Julie Walters as Mrs Bird.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Sally Hawkins and Hugh Bonneville improvised most of their conversations.
• Irony as She Is Cast: The evil taxidermist Millicent Clyde is played by Nicole Kidman, who is a huge animal lover.
• Late Export for You: The film was not released in Japan until January 15, 2016.
• Money, Dear Boy: Ben Whishaw's quotes about replacing Colin Firth as Paddington in The Daily Mail saying that he has "no relationship to Paddington whatsoever" and attended the audition "begrudgingly" probably points to this trope as a reason why he signed on. Subverted to an extent, as that same interview revealed Whishaw's attitude turned into a case of So My Kids Can Watch since he has a 18 month old niece, and his initial apprehension was due to previous bad experiences doing voice over work. Once he started working, he quite enjoyed himself and appears to have developed some genuine fondness for the character.
• No Stunt Double: Nicole Kidman did some of her own stunts. On her public Facebook profile she shared a photo from her first day of filming, in which she hung upside-down in wires which were placed several feet above the ground.
• The Other Marty: A major example. Colin Firth was initially cast as the voice of Paddington, but they mutually decided he didn't sound right in the part. Ben Whishaw replaced him, but there had already been posters advertising Colin Firth in the role.
• Playing Against Type: Ben Whishaw as Paddington. He's more known for Shakespeare roles, and playing anti-heroes, than being in family friendly movies.
• Promoted Fanboy: Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman and director Paul King all had fond memories of Paddington as kids, hence why they all agreed to work on the film.
• The Red Stapler: In the U.K., the movie greatly enhanced the sale of marmalade and oranges within the first half of 2015, and served a rise in downloads of marmalade recipes.
• Release Date Change: Originally it was suppose to come out in America on Christmas Day 2014, but because the Christmas Day was already crowded it was changed to January 16th for a wider audience. Despite opening the same weekend as American Sniper, it's done modestly well considering (especially since there are no new other family friendly films out).
• So My Kids Can Watch:
  • Subverted with Nicole Kidman. Her kids were initially excited to see her in the film...because they thought she would play Mary. When they discovered she was playing the villain, they weren't pleased.
  • A straight example occurred with Ben Whishaw. He did the film as a favor for his young niece.
• Those Two Actors:
  • Dolores Umbridge and Albus Dumbledore voice Paddington's aunt and uncle.
  • Sally Hawkins and Hugh Bonneville would play a married couple again in The Hollow Crown's second series, although things don't go quite as well for their characters in that. Ben Whishaw also appeared in the first series.
  • Sally Hawkins is also reunited with Jim Broadbent at the antiques shop. She played Broadbent's housekeeper in the movie version of The Young Visiters.
• Uncredited Role: Emma Thompson did some uncredited script polishing.
• What Could Have Been: Hugh Laurie was rumoured to be in the running to voice Paddington, but ultimately Colin Firth and later Ben Whishaw provided the voice.

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